The Difference Between Us
by Endeavourment
Summary: Sakura is having dreams about the unimaginable future, and finds herself questioning her clan. This leads to secrets unravelling right before her eyes, and she is determined to know the truth. Deemed illogical before, she wonders if this equates to something much more important than some measly visions. Yes, her clan was much more important than what she first thought them to be AU
1. Chapter 1

(Authors notes) MUST READ!

Okay, so this is a story that I kind of just took interest in wanting to write, and I feel like making my own plot and AU was something I would heavily enjoy, so this is where this idea comes from.

Some noteworthy things I think I should mention to you: In this story, the Harunos are a very powerful clan, even more so than the Hyuugas and the Uchihas, however they have chosen to keep themselves a secret so they do not get pulled into drama. They have a deadly Kekkei Genkai that is only awoken if a pure Haruno is conceived AND born on a full moon (which Sakura WILL be, so yes, she has the Kekkei Genkai. Only 3 out of the thousands in her clan had this. They already have a normal Kekkei Genkai, but this one is sort of an 'evolved state', I guess. Sort of like the Mangekyo is to the Sharingan.) The Uchiha Massacre will be prevented by none other than Sakura in this story, and Sakura has a few other powers that will be shown further into the story. But there are alot more mysteries going on, so don't worry, I didn't just spoil it for you. Sorry for babbling on, but one more thing! I'll try not to make Sakura too OOC in this story, but bare in mind that since her upbringing will be differentiated from that of the original story, so will her personality. Also, Sakura will have different parents. Okay, have fun reading!

* * *

"Haruno-sama, come quick!" Exclaimed a young woman with blonde hair and fierce brown eyes, sprinting her way down the Haruno compound's wide hallways. Said man came running out, almost colliding with the poor woman who warranted his attention.

"What is it? What's going on?" Dairoku, the Haruno Clan Head, frantically questioned. The woman, Haname, could only blissfully grin at the man she had had pledged her loyalty to 10 years ago and uttered three words.

"Come with me." She joyfully grinned, almost skipping her way to the infirmary as Dairoku submissively followed, quick on his feet. Once they arrived, Haname flung the door open, revealing Megumi Haruno, staring at a black and grey screen. It didn't take Dairoku long to realise that the black and grey screen his wife was looking at was actually an ultrasound. He had known his wife was pregnant ever since she'd announced so 5 months ago...What called him so urgently to see this?

Megumi turned to her newly arrived husband, tears filling her eyes to the brim as she laughed a joyful laugh.

"My love, what are you laughing at? I demand someone tell me what's going on!" Dairoku desparately pleaded as Megumi bounced her way over to him and embraced him.

"Dear, look outside and then look at the ultrasound screen...Please. Let me know when you understand it." Megumi pleaded with her oblivious lover. Dairoku raised a questioning eyebrow at her as he moved away his offending blonde hair from his eyes, his black orbs travelling to the window where they stopped on a round, white object.

"A full moon? I don't- _wait..."_ His pupils dilated as the traveled towards the ultrasound screen, green blotches surrounding where the eyes should be on their child, indicating a foreign object - or to put it simply, a 'foreign' Kekkei Genkai. _"Oh my god... is it really...?_!" Dairoku let out a happy - and very manly - squeal, squeezing his wife until she made an unpleasant noise.

"Darling, I sort of have a _child_ inside of me right now, would you not be so rough?" She joked, grinning at him as the tears that had threatened to spill before, did, and the husband and wife laughed and cried tears of happiness as they cuddled one another.

"I can't believe it...What are the chances? Our little baby is going to be so strong when they grow up!" As if only remembering, Dairoku gasped and pulled away, staring into his wife's emerald eyes. "Did you find out what gender it's going to be?" He grinned as Megumi nodded frantically.

"We're getting a girl!" Megumi exclaimed, rubbing her stomach. Dairoku's smile widened and he crouched down to his wife's stomach.

"Hey, sweetheart, I hope you can hear me right now. Listen, you are going to be the best Kunoichi our generation has ever seen, I'll make sure of that! And, perhaps if we're even luckier, you'll be the best Kunoichi that past generations had ever seen!" Dairoku whispered, smiling like a madman.

"Lucky us, huh? Only 3 others from the Haruno clan would've had this Kekkei Genkei, and- Oh! Hold on," Megumi was almost bursting with excitement. "She'll be the first woman of the Haruno clan to possess it!"

"Ah, yes, she will be a prodigy that will be longed for indeed." The doctor complimented, smiling.

"Haname-chan, you know, when I have my baby, you're gonna have to be her big sister, okay? Teach her everything you know." Megumi smiled gently at the 17-year-old girl, who blushed lightly.

"Of course, Megumi-san. I will protect her with my life." Haname agreed, grinning. "I've always wanted a little sister, anyway." Haname giggled, flustered. Megumi smiled back and tucked a strand of her own dark-red hair behind her ears.

"We've got 2 months preparation before she will be expected, so I think an announcement to our Clan is in order." Megumi informed Dairoku, nodding towards him as she clitched her stomach protectively.

"So it is." He nodded, smiling in response. "You are dismissed, Haname-san. Thank you for your continued efforts and contribution towards the Haruno Clan."

"It is my pleasure, Haruno-sama. Please take care of yourselves - especially you, Megumi-san." Haname smiled, bowing towards the pair before exiting the room, giddy with joy on the expected Heiress.

"So, it seems we have some waiting to do. Until then, we will be taking our leave - thank you, Morino, we don't know what we'd do without you." Dairoku nodded towards the doctor, who nodded in response.

"It is the least I could do for you, Haruno-sama. Please tell me if you need any help with anything, I will be glad to offer it." Morino smiled, waving at the Clan Heads as the exited the room.

{2 months - 7 hours of hard labour later}

"She's...beautiful." Megumi smiled down at her new-born. She was sticky with sweat and was panting heavily, but in her eyes, it was all worth it - just for this moment.

"Pink hair! How cute." Haname giggled, enfatuated with the infant's pretty little face.

"She has your eyes, dear." Dairoku pointed out, as Megumi chuckled.

"So she does. It seems she has a mix of both of our hair...blonde and red, and then we have pink." Megumi laughed, although she was clearly exhausted. "I suppose that makes sense. However, she has _your_ forehead." Megumi joked, holding back a snicker.

"Ha ha, very funny, my love. However, I have grown into my forehead and it is no longer as large as it used to be. Besides, she looks cute with her forehead." Dairoku defiantly crossed his arms, making his wife chuckle.

"I can't deny those claims one bit." Megumi smiled gently as she carressed her finished masterpiece that she ever-so-carefully cradled in her arms.

"Haruno-sama, I suggest you get some rest now, you have worked very hard." Morino told the exhausted woman. "Once you have decided on a name for the young girl, your husband may take her for a while." Megumi and Dairoku's eyes drifted towards eachother's as they smiled in unison.

"What should we call her?" Megumi asked.

"How about Lily? She would suit that, wouldn't she?" Dairoku suggested, as Megumi cringed in response.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I think that's a wuss name. Get more creative, Dairoku! How about...eh...Rose?" Megumi shrugged, looking towards Dairoku to gauge his reaction.

"Pfft, you tell me to get creative and then come up with a commoner's name like _that?_ Don't be funny, Megumi..." Dairoku chuckled, lightly kissing Megumi's forehead.

"Haruno-sama, Megumi-san, may _I_ suggest a name?" Haname perked up. Megumi beamed.

"Of course, Haname-chan! What did you have in mind?" Megumi asked politely. Haname's chocolate brown eyes sparkled before she spoke up.

"It's entirely up to you if you do not like the name, but I was going to suggest something that accentuated her vibrant hair colour...I was thinking," Haname took a breath and smiled. "Would 'Sakura' be a good name, do you think?" Haname asked. Megumi gasped and clutched her husband's shoulder, beaming broadly.

"It's perfect! Dai, what do you think!?" She asked, bringing out her well-loved nickname.

"I love it also. You were giving a nod to the pink flower, Sakura, weren't you, Haname-san?" Dairoku gently smiled as Haname's reply of 'I reckoned that it fit rather well.' ensued as well as a detailed explanation of what was to be of the bundle of joy in Megumi Haruno's arms.

And so, Sakura Haruno was born.

Megumi looked down towards her child, her expression a mix of concern and content.

 _My little girl...I love you. I thank heaven for the miracle they have given me today.._. Megumi smiled down at the pink-haired girl, who was silently stirring in her sleep. Megumi's smile fell. _What a hard life you may have, Sakura. I apologize. You will carry the Haruno Clan's future on your tiny shoulders. You are our destiny. You will decide our fate. Please, please,_ please, _I wish for your safety._

* * *

So, that's the first chapter! Thanks for reading. Below I will be naming the four OC's in this, their appearance and who they are as well as age.

Dairoku Haruno: Sakura's father, the Clan Head. He has onyx black eyes and tamed blonde hair. (29 years old)

Megumi Haruno: Sakura's Mother. She has short, red hair that reaches her shoulders in a bob, and light green eyes. (27 years old)

Haname Haruno: She has light blonde hair that she wears in a bun, two pieces of hair that dangle beside her ear and she has brown eyes. She is a distant cousin from Sakura, however her and Megumi are very close, so she is seen as Sakura's sister. She's not very close to Dairoku, but Megumi is like a mother to her.

Morino Haruno: The Haruno compound's doctor. Light blonde hair and green eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

{6 YEARS LATER - SAKURA'S AGE: 6, HANAME'S AGE: 23}

"Again, Sakura-chan." Haname instructed as the six-year-old girl whined in regret.

"Onee-chan, you're _killing_ me!" Sakura cried, rolling on the floor, exhausted. Haname's amused smirk did not help with subsiding the little girl's anger as she pulled at her pink locks in frustration. Haname chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

 _"You're_ the one who said they wanted to improve their Taijutsu, Saku-chan." Haname pointed out as Sakura peeled herself off of the ground as fixed her elder-sister figure with a glare.

"I know that!" Sakura squealed, face red in anger. "You've got to give me a break though, I'm totally _depleteeeeed..."_ Sakura lied, fake sobbing into her hands. Haname knew better, though.

"No you're not, Sakura." Haname look down her nose at Sakura, which made the younger girl shiver. She hated how Haname knew her so well - and she hated that glare, dammit! Haname sighed in frustration. "Saku-chan, if you want to be as strong as your parents, you will need to have mastered this by now!"

Sakura sighed, plopping herself down in a sitting position and murmering ' _I'm_ _only six, stupid clan making me-'_ and the rest was unintelligable. Haname eventually got Sakura to spar with her, and to say which Sakura held up pretty well, lasting at least 30 seconds as Haname went full-out - and Haname was an adequately formidable kunoichi. Haname had finished Sakura off by shunshinning behind her and hitting her pressure point, causing the little girl to fall to the floor. She picked herself up and quickly dusted off, before pointing an accussing finger at Haname.

"You _cheater!_ You said no chakra!" Sakura folded her arms in front of her chest, puffing her cheeks out defiantly. Haname chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

"No I didn't." Haname countered, smirking victoriously. "I said taijutsu - I never specified whether chakra could be used or not." Sakura rolled her eyes, placing her small hands on her hips.

"Whatever, onee-chan. You won." Haname beamed, much to Sakura's displeasure. "Now, teach me how to do that! That was super cool!" Sakura beamed, eyes shining as she idolized Haname.

"What? Shunshin?" Haname asked, Sakura held a bemused expression.

"The thing! The thing!" Sakura repeated, replaying the scene as she pretended to suddenly pop out of nowhere and chop the air. Haname decided to tease her some more.

"I don't understand you when you talk like that, Saku-chan." Haname smirked, amusedly. "Use your words." A pained groan escaped Sakura's rosy lips as she let out an exasperated sigh.

"The one where you suddenly appeared behind me! If it's called Shunshin, then yes! Teach it to me!" Sakura beamed, jumping up and down - a little _too_ energised for someone who just got their six-year-old _ass_ kicked.

"Okay, Saku-chan. But you need to perform the kicks I told you to do. Once you've perfected it, we can move on to the next. Sound good?" Haname questioned, her head tilted to the side.

"Yeah yeah, whatever, _Blondy."_ Sakura dismissively waved off the not-so-pleased 'blondy' before perfectly executing a roundhouse kick, followed by a backflip and a scissor kick. Haname clapped her hands together.

"That was amazing, Saku-chan! The only problem I had with it was your hesitation between the set tasks - your speed needs to be faster if you want to impress people. It's good as it is now, but I think a little challenge would do you well." Haname's smile widened as Sakura threw her a thumbs up.

"Yeah, but the sunshine jutsu-thing's gonna make me super fast though, _isn't_ it?" Sakura asked, waiting for confirmation. Haname shook her head in the negative at the discombobulated little girl, amused.

"That depends, Saku-chan. Some people perform shunshin faster than others, and some people, slower. Take into account Shunshin no Shisui, for example. And not to mention that you can't do it unlimitedly, it takes chakra." Haname educated, as she received a confused look from Sakura. She decided to elaborate. "He can shunshin pretty much at the speed of light- well, maybe not that fast, but he can Shunshin amazingly fast."

"Oh, cool. The old man's probably had a _lot_ more experience than me, though." Sakura shrugged, denying the boy's brilliance. Haname snickered.

"Saku-chan, he's not old. Last time I checked, he was fourteen. Not older than most elite ninja, if I can point out." Haname chuckled as Sakura gaped.

 _"That_ young?" Haname nodded, snickering. "What village is he from?" Sakura asked curiously.

"He's from- Oh! Yes, I forgot to tell you," Haname suddenly exclaimed. "We've enrolled you into another village's academy - you'll be taught by a proffessional now!" Haname clapped her hands. Sakura fixed her with a blank stare before speaking up.

"Um, okay. But you ignored my question." Sakura stated, Haname shook her head before responding to Sakura's childish accusation.

"No, it just reminded me of that. He's from Konohagakure, the place you'll be living in!" Haname grinned, as did Sakura as she exclaimed about how she'll _'perfect the shunshin and show that runt who's boss'_. "Konoha's not too far from here, so you can be expecting weekly visits from me and your parents." Haname smiled.

"What? You're not gonna come live with me?" Sakura pouted - she hated the idea of transferring to another village without anyone she knew.

"Unfortunately, we've already pushed our luck too much by enrolling you in the academy _this_ early. People usually start at eight-years-old over there." Hanane explained, as Sakura giggled.

"Jeez, that's bad! I bet I'm gonna be the best ninja there, then!" Sakura exclaimed, twirling a kunai in her hands.

"You may well be, however there are very talented ninjas there, so I doubt it. But that's okay, Saku-chan," Haname bent down so that she was eye-level with Sakura and smiled warmly. "We've got another whole year before you so much as start _living_ there. We can train so hard, you'll be gauranteed to be the village's best ninja!" Haname teased, engulfing Sakura in a hug. Sakura giggled.

"Yeah, I will!" Sakura pulled away as she stared into Haname's eyes. "Now, teach me how to do the thing!" Haname's grin widened in response.

* * *

And the chapter's finished! I think I did rather well with portraying how exactly Sakura's upbringing will be - but bare in mind that this is Haname who is training her, so of course Sakura would be showered in affection and let off the hook. However, Sakura's life as an Heiress will not be this easy, and she will face future plights that I can't go into detail on in risk of spoling the plot, lol. Another thing, Haname is NOT Sakura's sister, she is actually a distant cousin from the Haruno clan, but Sakura has just been brought up to think that she is her sister.


	3. Chapter 3

{ONE YEAR LATER - SAKURA'S AGE: 7, HANAME'S AGE - 24}

"I'm gonna miss you so much!" Megumi told her daughter as she embraced her before pulling away and hugging Haname gently aswell. "Thank you for agreeing to do this, Haname-chan, I can't thank you enough!" Megumi smiled, her green eyes sparkling in admiration. Haname bowed, smiling in return.

"It's nothing - really, Megumi-san. It's been an honour to train Saku-chan, and I'd never miss the chance to see her off to her new village! I'd be against letting her walk all the way there on her own, anyway." Haname joked, smiling, as Dairoku hugged his child and nodded in recognition to Haname, who returned his gesture.

"I'm gonna make you proud, Kaa-san! You too, Tou-san!" Sakura grinned, throwing a thumbs up. "It's sad that you can't come live with me though." Sakura frowned.

"If it was up to us, we would, sweetheart." Dairoku spoke up. "But being Clan Heads is a job we need to take in full seriousness, and by being somewhere else not only are we neglecting our Clan's needs, we are also representing that we have no sense of responsibility as leaders. You know how it is, darling." Dairoku sighed, planting a kiss on his daughter's head.

"We'll visit you every other month, though!" Megumi chimed in entusiastically. Sakura's smile faultered.

"Every _month?_ Aww, but Onee-chan told me you were gonna come weekly!" Sakura pouted as her father chuckled.

"Oh heavens no, we wouldn't hear the end of it from your aunties and uncles if we attempted to fit that into our schedules. Haname will be doing the weekly checkups." Dairoku told her, as Haname nodded.

"Yeah, so you better had enjoy my company, Saku-chan!" Haname teased, ruffling Sakura's bouncy, pink locks. Sakura huffed in annoyance but otherwise hugged her parents a final goodbye for at least a month as her and Haname started to set off for Konohagakure.

"Remember, Sakura." Her mother called, serious. "Our clan is to be kept a secret." Sakura nodded in determination, despite not understanding their reasoning behind it.

"Where we going first when we get there, Onee-chan?" Sakura asked, squeezing Haname's hand as said woman squeezed it back in reassurance.

"We'll be going to the Hokage Tower first, so we can get you somewhere to stay. You'll be on your own, so I suppose he'll make you live with someone else." Haname told Sakura. Sakura flushed.

"Ah...but...I-I've never...had a friend." Sakura said slowly, her eyes darting to the side, embarrassed.

"Don't talk silly, Saku-chan. I'm your friend!" Haname beamed, as Sakura pouted.

"You don't count! You're family!" Sakura exclaimed, giggling. "But anyway, I'm too shy to be living with someone else. They won't like me."

 _"You're_ too _shy?"_ Haname cringed, kmowing full well that the girl was a little ball of energy at times. _"Sakura_ and _shy._ Now that's an oxymoron. Saku-chan, sometimes you're so overly-confident it _scares_ me. And anyway, you do have friends, but I think what you mean is that you've never had friends your _age._ That's not your fault, though. The Haruno Clan doesn't have many young children in the compound, apart from you, Little Miss Heiress." Haname poked Sakura's nose as Sakura recoiled, slapping Haname's hand away.

"But, having older friends just means I'm more mature then, right?" Sakura asked, trying to reassure herself.

"Exactly." Haname nodded in agreement, smiling sweetly at the pinkette.

It really wasn't much of a surprise to Haname that Sakura would question her ability to make friends on their journey towards the village, however Haname felt like laughing. You would have to be out of your mind to not find that cute little personality of her's friend-material. Atleast, that's what Haname thought - although she may be a bit biased seeing as Sakura took after her in the most part.

Their trek towards Konoha was a very long one, but that was mainly because they had took many different routes and occasionally stopped along the way. One of their excuses being that Sakura saw a cute pinecone she wanted, as then Haname watched in shock as the cute little seven-year-old walked vertically up a tree to the highest point and grabbed said pinecone. Haname had almost fainted at the thought of Sakura falling from that height. She's be executed by the Harunos for sure...

They had finally made it to Konoha and were walking down the village's streets towards the Hokage office when Haname felt Sakura abruptly stop, tugging her hand. Haname turned to Sakura to find she was staring off somewhere sadly, and followed her gaze. A blonde boy with cerulean blue eyes with whisker-like marks adorning his face was sat on a swing, alone.

"He looks so sad..." Sakura commented, turning to Haname. "I'm gonna go and cheer him up, stay here!" Sakura told Haname before she had ran off to the little boy.

Naruto heard someone running towards him and looked up. His eyes widened as his gaze fell on a girl with pink hair and the purest green eyes he had ever seen. There was no way she was looking at him, was there?

Sakura watched as the little boy looked behind him as if trying to confirm as if Sakura was looking at him or not, and it just tugged her heart strings a little. After noticing that Sakura's gaze was in fact on him, he decided that she was probably going to just bully him for being alone, or maybe tell him "Hey, I wanna go on the swing now, get off!" He frowned.

"Hello!" Sakura beamed at him. He looked towards her and his mouth formed a straight line, obviously frightened. Sakura's face fell to one of sadness. "You look _really_ sad...are you okay?" Sakura finally asked. The blonde boy took a second to process what she had just asked him and lightly smiled.

"H-hi...Y-yeah...'M fine." The boy started off. Sakura decided she was to give him some confidence and sat on the swing next to him.

"You don't need to be scared around me, I'm actually really nice!" Sakura grinned jokingly, earning a grin in return. "I'm Sakura. Sakura Haruno. What's _your_ name?" Sakura asked him. Naruto's face lit up.

"I'm Naruto!" He exclaimed loudly. Wow, he really _was_ confident when he wanted to be. He flushed. "You're really pretty, Sakura-chan!" He smiled. Sakura lightly blushed from the compliment and nodded to him.

"Thank you, Naruto! You're really nice." She grinned. "Now, can you tell me why you're so sad?" Sakura asked him, genuinely curious. Naruto's smile faltered and he looked towards her.

"M'just lonely, you know? Nothing outta the ord'nary." Naruto shrugged, smiling. "M'sad 'cause the kids over there were being mean to me." Naruto finally admitted, pointing to a group of 2 girls and 2 boys.

"Eh? How where they being mean to you?" Sakura asked him, perplexed as to why someone would be mean to Naruto - he's so _nice!_

"They were callin' me mean things like...monster and freak 'n stuff." Naruto shrugged, trailing off. That really made Sakura angry. Naruto caught on that she was angry by the way that she was glaring at the group and decided to intervene. "N-no! It's okay, Sakura-chan! Y-you don't need to do anything. M'used to it." Naruto admitted, with only seemed to fuel her rage more. Naruto didn't want Sakura doing anything too mean to them, especially because of the masked men that follow him around - they might tell her off and she would get in trouble for sticking up for him!

Sakura glared at the group. She could feel the chakra presence of people in the trees and cast one glance towards them, seeing a cloaked man with a fox mask on. She quickly averted her gaze and decided that she had better act like she had never seen him. They were watching Naruto for some reason...yet they didn't have the nerve to come down and help him? What idiots! She'd grind them down into little-

"What do you mean you're _used_ to it, Naruto? Do they do this often?" Sakura asked, cutting off her own mental threats. Naruto's cautionary glance at the group and slight nod of his head told her all she needed to know as she went storming towards them. Naruto called for her but felt obliged to follow.

 _"You!"_ She spat at the group as they turned to face her. A girl with purple hair raised an eyebrow as to what Sakura was doing. "Why are you calling Naruto a monster and a freak!?" The group had finally understood what she was here for and started laughing at her and Naruto.

"Because that's what he is, Forehead," The girl with purple hair taunted, making Sakura blush with embarrassment. "Apparently you are too, seeing as you're hanging out with him." Sakura scowled at her.

"What has he done to you? Why are you treating him like the scum of the Earth!? If you'd actually taken a minute to get to know the boy you would know that he doesn't deserve this harrassment!" Sakura screamed at the girl, as Naruto turned red behind Sakura as he contemplated the fact that he was actually being defended... _and by a super cute girl at that!_

"Just look at him, lounging about all lonely...He's a slob and a weirdo, watching people when they play all the time, it's no surprise no one likes him." The purple-haired chuckled as a chorus of giggles and _'Good one, Ami!'_ unfolded. Sakura watched as Naruto slumped beside her, tears filling his eyes. Oh that was _it,_ this girl was getting it.

"You disgust me." Was all Sakura said before she slapped Ami hard, and it took Ami a moment to process what had just happened before she took her hand up to the red mark that now adorned her face. Ami's bottom lip was trembling and her cheeks were red, it was obvious she was trying hard not to cry in front of her friends. Her friends had gone silent and Ami was left to speak for herself.

"You ugly, big-foreheaded _freak!_ How _dare_ you slap me! I'll kill you!" Ami screamed, raising her hand to retaliate before a firm grip on Ami's hand left eyes to wander towards the holder. Haname had caught Ami's hand and was looked very displeased, frowning.

"Would you care to tell me what is going on here?" Haname insisted, a frosty look glacing over her pretty features. Ami shot Sakura a quick look before her crocodile tears started to pour, pointing at Sakura and rubbing her cheek.

"S-she _s-slapped_ me!" Ami cried, her wails only infuriating Sakura more.

"Serves you right, you dirty witch!" Sakura screamed, obviously angry. Naruto was in awe at Sakura's confidence and looked to see if the masked men had saw, and it was obvious they were just as in shock as he was.

"Sakura! You _slapped_ her?" Haname gasped, as Sakura's lips turned upwards in a snarl. "Why did you do that!?"

"Because she was calling my friend horrible names!" Sakura retorted, throwing an arm around the shy Naruto. Naruto averted his gaze from Haname.

"S-sorry...if it w-wasn't for me she wouldn't have slapped Ami..." Naruto guiltily took the blame as Haname's eyes crossed his features. Haname smiled at him.

"It's quite alright, dear, it was not your fault. It wasn't _your_ hand that came in contact with her face." Haname apologised, turning to Ami. "Why don't you lot run along now? I'll deal with the offender here." Haname told Ami. Ami stuck her tongue out at Sakura before her and her friends ran off. Sakura looked towards the floor, waiting to berated by Haname, but Haname only snickered. It was a pity chuckle, but she still laughed.

"Ten minutes after arriving, and you've mangaged to get yourself into trouble already." Haname ruffled Sakura's hair. Sakura narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips.

"She deserved it. I didn't like how she was speaking about Naruto." Sakura tried to justify, and Naruto smiled.

"What exactly did she say?" Haname questioned, head tilted slightly.

"She was calling him a monster and a freak, and saying no one likes him 'cause he's a slob." Sakura relayed as Haname turned to Naruto.

"Are you okay?" Haname asked Naruto as he nodded, beaming.

"Thanks to Sakura-chan!" He added, as Sakura wrapped him in a hug. Naruto was shocked for a minute before he eventually returned the embrace. Sakura pulled away and smiled.

"Okay, Naruto! You're my first friend in Konoha, so that means you're my best!" Sakura told him as Naruto's tears were coming back, but for a different reason.

"Y-you're my first friend too, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning. "We'll be best friends from now on, yeah?"

"Of course, Naruto!" Sakura squealed. "Hey, we're going to the Hokage's tower right now to speak with him...wanna come?" Sakura offered as Naruto nodded frantically.

"I'm gonna be Hokage someday, too!" Naruto told Sakura as she snickered in response. "What? I _am!"_

"No, no! I believe you! But you're gonna have to make me your assistant when you do, okay?" Sakura asked as he smiled again, flattered than she had accepted his dream without so much as doubting him.

"I promise, Sakura-chan! Believe it!" Naruto threw her a thumbs up and Sakura grinned, her eyes creasing into an n-shape.

"Okay let's go." Sakura took Naruto's hand as they walked towards the Hokage's tower.

Needless to say, the ANBU tracking Naruto were speechless and wondering where this kind girl had suddenly come from.


	4. Chapter 4

The Hokage looked up from his papers as a knock sounded from his double doors.

"Hey old man, open up!" Called a quite familiar ecstatic blonde's voice, followed by another childlike but otherwise meeker voice of,

"Naruto, you can't say _that_ to the _Hokage!"_ The Hokage chuckled lightly to himself.

"Enter." He told them as the double doors opened in unison. In stepped Naruto and a pink-haired girl, holding hands in a child-like way.

"Ah, I see Naruto-chan found himself a little girlfriend then?" The Hokage teased, raising an eyebrow. Naruto flushed where as the girl stayed composed.

"A-ah- well..." Naruto stuttered as Sakura rolled her eyes at him and eyed the Hokage down.

"It's _hardly_ romantic. He's my best friend, and best friend's don't go out! Especially since I'm gonna be his assistant when he's Hokage. That's just not professional." Sakura sounded, folding her arms and holding her chin up proudly despite her lack of height.

"Ah, I see..." The Hokage chuckled, as Naruto blushed even more furiously. The Hokage turned his attention to the 23-year-old. "Haname Haruno I assume?" Haname nodded. "I suppose you're here to discuss where Sakura Haruno will be staying? We've already discussed the academy before, but I assumed you would be coming _tomorrow,_ so I don't have anywhere available at the moment." The Hokage sighed. Naruto perked up, looking curious.

"Sakura-chan doesn't have a home here?" He asked. Sakura nodded, and Naruto smiled. "She can come live with me!" He offered. The Hokage raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Naruto, I didn't realise it was your place to offer up your home like that." The Hokage smirked, amused by the boy's overall confidence.

"Ah, technically it _is_ my place, old man." Naruto pointed out. The Hokage chuckled - what a very bold child Naruto was indeed. "I bet Sakura-chan wants to come live with me anyway!" Sakura nodded vigorously, throwing an arm over Naruto's shoulders.

"Naruto, she's a _female-"_

"So!? M'not an old pervert like you, she'll be safe with me! Plus, I got the masked men with me, so she'll be double safe!" Naruto voiced his opinion. The Hokage was seriously considering this...perhaps he had grown unwise with age. The Hokage eventually sighed in defeat.

"Very well, Naruto. Sakura may live with you." The Hokage accepted, leaning back in his chair. Naruto and Sakura cheered and grinned at eachother, earning a laugh from both the The Hokage and Haname. "But not in your home - you'll get moved to somewhere different that can house two people."

"I suppose that settles it then. Thank you, Hokage-sama." Haname bowed, turning to exit. Naruto and Sakura waved to the Hokage on their way out, Naruto screaming _"Bye old man!"_ and earning a steeled stare from Sakura.

Now just where did Naruto pick this girl up from? She was truly something.

As Sakura walked out of the Hokage's office, she briskly bumped into someone. She stepped back to be met with the onyx eyes of a pretty boy with long hair. He had lines adorning each side of his sharp nose, and was now staring in confusion at the new-comer, obviously unable to recognise her.

"Sorry, I didn't see you..." Sakura apologised, embarrassment from not paying attention evident on her cheeks. The boy just nodded and walked into the Hokage's office, carrying a scroll.

"Who was that?" Sakura asked Naruto, who just shrugged.

"Don't know him person'lly...but he's the Uchiha 'prodigy' of the village...Got a big stick up his ass, like all the other gloomy Uchiha pansies..." He told her, as she turned to look at him once more, but her gaze fell on closed doors. "Itachi Uchiha...I think it was?" Naruto pondered.

"Saku-chan," Haname called. Sakura turned to face her and Haname bent down to eye-level with her. "I've got to go back, okay? I'll see you next week...so take care of yourself and don't get in trouble, because this time I won't be here to stop you. If you ever feel in danger, remember your training. Bye, Saku-chan." Haname smiled, embracing Sakura and shunshinning out of the village.

"Woah! That was super cool! What did she just do!?" Naruto exclaimed, stars in his eyes.

"It's called shunshin, and I can do it too!" Sakura told him, eager to show off and grinning. Naruto seemed even more impressed.

"Show me! Show me!" He begged, and Sakura complied. She put her hands together, forming the neccessary symbols before shunshinning towards a bench 10 feet away and back, all in the blink of an eye. Naruto clapped, entranced. "That was awesome, Sakura-chan!"

"That was pretty impressive, kid." A new voice interrupted. Naruto and Sakura turned to face the boy in question and came face-to-face with a boy with unruly black hair, onyx eyes like Itachi's, and a playful grin on his face. Sakura raised an eyebrow, and the boy answered her unvoiced question.

"I'm Shisui." He said, smiling. Sakura's eyes widened. Wait- _the_ Shisui?

 _"Shunshin_ no Shisui?" Sakura questioned, as Shisui nodded. But his smile quickly faultered as he looked around and whispered to Sakura.

"You're lucky the ANBU in the trees were paying attention to Itachi, or else you would've been in trouble." Shisui sighed, pointing to Itachi walking out of Hokage's tower, and the ANBU sitting in the trees. Sakura frowned.

"Are you threatening me?" Sakura asked, her brow furrowed. Shisui quickly shook his head in denial.

"No, I'm only warning you, kid. Listen, those are really advanced skills and I have no doubt you'll be an amazing shinobi - I suspect you're a prodigy already. However, there are some really bad people in this village that would stop at nothing to get what they want, even hurting people to do so. So try to keep it a secret from people, okay?" Shisui explained, careful to not raise his voice in case any of the ANBU heard. Big green eyes analyzed the boy before her mouth slowly opened to reply, before she was cut off by another voice.

"Shisui." Itachi interjected, his eyes running over Sakura and Naruto as if he had only just noticed that they were there, but Sakura knew that he was just ignoring their presence. "What are you doing?"

"Just talking to my cute little fairy friend here." Shisui grinned, picking up Sakura and holding her in front of him, as if showcasing her to Itachi. Sakura glared at Shisui as he nervously chuckled, putting the girl down. "What? Is a guy not allowed to have any friends, now?" Shisui joked. Itachi raised an eyebrow, and Shisui sighed. "You're no fun, Itachi...you're so emotionally constipated it's making me droop in on myself...Look; my legs are starting to give in just from your sheer will power." Shisui threw himself on the ground in an overly-dramatic fashion, the back of his hand resting on his forehead.

"Get up." Itachi demanded, staring down at the boy in exasperation. Shisui grinned.

"Why should I?" Shisui asked Itachi, who was getting more and more irritated by the second.

"Because okaa-san is expecting us." Itachi explained. Sakura and Naruto felt uncomfortable with watching the exchange so Sakura just patted Shisui's head and turned to walk away.

"Don't leave me with this...this _ice cube_ of a human!" Shisui sobbed, as Sakura sniggered, walking away.

"Sorry, I think I left the oven on." Sakura called back teasingly as she followed Naruto. "So, does this place have a park or something?" She asked Naruto, who evidently sagged.

"Y-yeah, but the people there are super mean, so I don't go there of'en." He shrugged, as she eyed him with that look.

"If they do anything that upsets you, I'll beat them up, okay?" Sakura promised, making Naruto nervous.

"But you'll get in trouble...you were almost in a fight last time 'n then your kaa-san came." Naruto reminded her, and Sakura giggled, lightly punching Naruto in the shoulder.

"I would've handed her ass to her on a silver platter otherwise...and Haname's not my _okaa-san,_ she's my _onee-chan! Ha-na-me-nee-chan."_ Sakura drawled out her name, and Naruto chuckled, but otherwise apologised for his blunder. Naruto eventually agreed to go to the park and they set off in it's direction. They were nearing it when they noticed Ami's group lingering around the entrance. Naruto visibly stiffened and Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder, comforting the boy who was anticipating the worst.

"It's okay, if they try anything, I'm here for you. We can go round another way if you-"

"Hey Ami, look! It's that ugly forehead kid with her freak of a friend!" A girl with brown hair commented, as Ami turned to look at Sakura.

A look of brief fear crossed Ami's face before she decided to suck it up and act tough. Sakura and Naruto attempted to go around the park but Ami and her group had cut them off.

"Did you get in trouble, forehead girl? Your okaa-san looked like she wanted to kill you, you know? She probably _hates_ you, and I don't blame her. Having _you_ for a daughter probably ruined her life." Ami teased as her friends chuckled behind her.

"She wasn't my okaa-san. And for the record, no, she _didn't_ tell me off." Sakura squared up, putting her hands on her hips.

"Whatever she was to you, I don't care! I still bet they hate you!" Ami jeered. Sakura sighed.

"You're pathetic, you know that?" Sakura retorted as Ami scowled at her.

"Not more pathetic than your big forehead! Ugly!" Ami taunted, poking her forehead. Sakura narrowed her eyes at the obnoxious purple-haired girl.

"I didn't I give you permission to touch me." Sakura stated, sneering. "Why don't you and your looney squad go and harrass someone else?" Sakura advised as Ami scoffed at Sakura.

"I'll touch you whether I want to touch you or not, ugly." As if to prove her point, Ami reached out to poke Sakura's forehead again before Sakura caught her wrist in a rather tenacious hold. "Ew, get your dirty fingers off of me, forehead!" Ami attemted to pull back, but Sakura's grip remained firm.

Ami pulled back harder and harder, before she was fully relying on Sakura to stay upright. Sakura took her chance and let go of Ami's wrist, sending her tumbling into a puddle behind her. Ami had gasped and swore she would get her big brother on Sakura, before running home, crying, her goons chasing after her.

"Hey, that was awesome!" A new voice sounded from across the playground. A girl the same age as Sakura, with blonde hair and pale, blue eyes exclaimed, two boys trailing after her, albeit uninterestedly. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Um, thanks..." Sakura smiled, as the new girl grinned gleefully at Sakura.

"My name's Ino Yamanaka. What's yours?" The proud girl quizzed, as Sakura gently placed a hand on Naruto, sensing that he was tensing up, in an act of reassurance.

"I'm Sakura Haruno, and this is my best friend Naruto Uzumaki!" Sakura shouted as Naruto smiled next to her. Ino shot Naruto a cautionary glance, but otherwise deemed him worthy of her attention. If she thought ill of the blonde, she certainly didn't voice her distaste.

"Well it's good to meet you two, too! These boneheads behind me are Shikamaru Nara," Ino told Sakura, pointing to a boy with spiky hair who was muttering under his breath about women and being 'troublesome'. "And Choji Akimichi!" Ino pointed to a chubby boy who was stuffing his face full of potato chips. Sakura nodded towards the two boys as Naruto lightly tugged on Sakura's top.

"Thanks for doing that again, Sakura-chan." He beamed as Sakura beamed right back, and exclaimed an enthusiastic,

"Anytime!" to him.

"Yeah, you really taught Ami a lesson! She definitely had that one coming!" Ino squealed with joy as Sakura blushed with embarrassment - she never really _did_ like the spotlight. "I hated that ugly roach anyway. She was always so mean to people, especially people who don't deserve it." Sakura nodded her head in agreement, casting a glance towards Naruto.

"She's a very troublesome girl, to say the least." Shikamaru chimed in, earning a nod from Sakura.

"It's not the first time I've sent her off crying." Sakura proudly stated, crossing her arms over her chest like a child.

"Good - she deserves every single bit of hate she gets!" Ino supported, her medium, blonde locks bouncing in the wind.

Sakura had just grinned and asked Ino, Shikamaru and Choji if they wanted to play a game of hide and seek. They accepted, and the game ensued with Sakura as the seeker. Sakura frowned as she looked around. She could feel their chakras, so this wasn't really much of a challenge on her part. One-by-one she found everyone, with her finding Naruto first (due to her recognising his bubbly, light chakra the best). Naruto was now the seeker and Sakura ran off to find a hiding place.

"Sakura-chan, you can come and hide with me!" Ino had offered, but Sakura had politely shook her head.

"If he finds one of us, he'll find the other since we'd be hiding in the same place." Sakura had pointed out. Ino had nodded and ran off in search of somewhere.

Sakura looked up into one of the trees that was on the outskirts of the playground and walked up it, she sat herself down on the highest branch and declared it the best hiding spot as she cackled evily to no one in particular. It was then that she froze.

 _Shit._ She thought. She had only just noticed the chakra of an ANBU tailing her, and he had no doubt seen her little performance just now.

 _Why are they tailing_ me? _Shouldn't they be with Naruto?_ She questioned herself. She slightly turned her head to look in the ANBU's direction before quickly snapping her head down to the playground. She heard Naruto's loud voice as he argued with someone.

"You're not allowed to play, _Teme!_ We're in the middle of a game!" He had bellowed. Sakura turned her head to look at the boy he was shouting at. It was a boy the same age as Naruto, with onyx eyes and spiky black hair. 'God, why does everyone look the same here?' She joked to herself. She watched silently as Ino ran up to Naruto and bopped him on the head.

"Idiot! Of course he can play!" Ino growled, turning to Sasuke and smiling sweetly, her hands clasped together. "I'm so sorry, Sasuke-kun! Naruto-baka's just being a bit stubborn today! Of course you can play with us, Sasuke-kun." She stated in a horrible, sugary voice that she had now resorted to using. Sasuke ignored her, instead focusing his gaze on Naruto.

"Maybe if _you_ hadn't taken so long in finding everyone, I could've been playing with you by now." Sasuke stated matter-of-factly, crossing his arms. The woman next to him, presumably his mother judging by how she looked, was holding back a chuckle.

"Shutup, Teme! First of all, I still haven't found Sakura-chan yet, and secondly, even if I _did,_ you still wouldn't have been playing with us!" Naruto exclaimed, as Sasuke growled. "There's no _way_ I would let a loser like you on the team!" Sasuke had evidently had enough, as his mother turned to leave, Sasuke pounced on to Naruto, trying to pull his hair as Naruto scratched back. It was obvious Sasuke's mother had no idea what was happening as she had her back to the scene. Sakura waited a few seconds for someone like Ino, Choji or Shikamaru to break it up, but they didn't. Sakura growled in frustration and leapt from the high branch she was on, landing on the floor with a soft thud. (due to her excellent chakra control) At this point, Sakura didn't really care for what _'ANBU'_ saw her.

"Naruto, _stop!"_ Sakura called, running up towards the two boys.

"Fuck you!" Naruto cursed, which was a massive change for Sakura, as she had only seen the shy and fun-loving side of Naruto. This Naruto's eyes were practically turning red. Oh wait, no, that was just because Sasuke had attempted to scoop his eyeballs out with his fingernails.

Sasuke growled at Naruto and tried to kick him, but Sakura ran into the middle of them, stopping Sasuke mid-kick. She turned and held a hand out to Naruto, who was currently on the floor, and helped him up. She turned to Sasuke and cast him a scowl, surprising him. She huffed at him, pointing.

"Don't hurt Naruto." She told him, as Naruto stuck his tongue out at the Uchiha. This didn't settle well for Sasuke, and he scowled at Sakura instead.

"It's none of your business." He defiantly said, narrowing his eyes.

"It _is_ my business - Naruto is my best friend! I'm not gonna just stand there whilst you try to kick the shit out of him!" Sakura cursed. (something she had picked up from Haname) Sasuke had just sent her one final glance, a teary-eyed look, before turning to leave. Sakura felt guilty, however, and somehow found herself yelling for him to wait. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset, but I don't want anyone to fight!"

"...It's okay." Sasuke told her, rubbing his nose, as Ino swooned, clasping her hands together and sighing dreamily.

"How about we play another game, and this time, you can play too?" She suggested. This seemed to brighten up Sasuke's mood and he nodded, whereas Sakura beamed. "Great! And- oh, yeah. What's your name? I'm Sakura Haruno."

"I'm Sasuke." He told her simply, as she nodded smiling. Naruto scowled at Sasuke in jealousy, but otherwise did nothing about it.

"Okay, who's gonna be the seeker now?" Choji asked, muffled, halfway through his seventh bag of potato chips. Naruto pointed at Sasuke, casting him a side-eye.

"I vote Sasuke-teme. _He's_ the one who interrupted our game in the first place." Naruto stubbonly stated, emphasis on the 'interrupted', and crossed his arms.

"Nuh-uh, Sasuke-kun can be whatever he wants, Naruto!" Ino growled, quickly coming to Sasuke's defense.

"I don't want to be the seeker. I'll find you all easily anyway." He huffed arrogantly. Naruto growled, ready to retort.

"We'll play a different game!" Sakura quickly interjected, her hands outstretched in front of her, attempting to avoid another argument happening.

"Like what?" Shikamaru perked up, opening an eye to meet Sakura's determined gaze. Sakura thought for a moment, before her eyes scanned over everyone and she grinned.

"Capture the flag!" She announced, her hands on her hips. She then noticed that they didn't have a flag, so she grabbed two sticks and cast an illusion on them, turning them into a red and blue flag and- _fuck-shit-she-forgot-the-ANBU-was-still-watching-and-oh-well-she-hoped-he-didnt-see-that_. "Okay, there we are! Now let's split into two teams of three!" Ino immediately hung onto Sasuke's arm much to his displeasure and Naruto's disgust.

"Jeez, how hard did your parents drop you on your head as a baby for you to like a bastard like him?" Naruto muttered. Sakura giggled, and was thankful that no one else had heard.

"I'll stay with you, Naruto." Sakura smiled, which Naruto gladfully returned ten fold, his teeth's sparkle etching itself into her retinas. She pointed at Shikamaru and Choji. "So that means one of you has to come onto our team." Shikamaru rolled his eyes, but otherwise obeyed and walked over to Sakura and Naruto, as it was clear that there was no way that Sasuke was going on Naruto's team, Ino wanted to stay with Sasuke, and Choji was too immersed in eating his crisps that he hadn't even heard Sakura's declaration.

"Hm...okay. We'll be Team Blue." Sasuke proposed, as Sakura agreed.

Sakura then told them that they needed a more open space, to where Sasuke said he knew where a nearby field was, that was usually used for training grounds. He informed his mother of where he was going, and she smiled gently at him, telling him to come straight back with one of us after he'd finished the game. Sasuke led them to the massive grass field, and Sakura started setting up the flags and territory. She explained the rules to a bemused Ino, Choji and Naruto and a question drifted into a certain blonde's head, which eventually left his lips.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, did you used to play this when you were younger?" Naruto asked, inclining his head towards her. The others seemed interested aswell, seeing how well Sakura had explained the rules - like she had the whole thing memorised. Sakura also noticed how Naruto had eventually gotten over his speaking habbits, and it was much easier to tell what he was saying now.

"Not in the way you would expect..." She replied, shrugging, assuming that would answer his question, but when he stayed silent and raised a questioning eyebrow, she sighed and decided to elaborate. "W-well, I, uh...I didn't really know any kids my age, so the chance of me playing it for fun is naught. I did it for a training exercise, and it proves to be efficient." She told him.

"How is Capture The Flags a good _training_ exercise?" Naruto snorted. The thought of a 'fun little game' being a hard training exercise had made Naruto chuckle a little.

"Naruto, Capture The Flags is one of the most tactical and quick-thinking games you would play as a child. It works on improving aspects such as your evasiveness, your skills as a tactician, speed, stamina, endurance and a lot of teamwork. Of course, I never really got to train in the 'teamwork' category..." She laughed, her shoulders bouncing a little. Naruto looked dumbfounded.

"I don't know what most of those words mean." He blankly stared at her, and when she sighed he decided to try and uplift her. "-but I know what speed and teamwork are...if that counts...for...something?" When Sakura giggled at him, he grinned in satisfaction.

"I didn't realise Capture The Flags would prove to be so...beneficial." Shikamaru interjected, his eyebrow raising slightly, impressed. Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I say we get on with the game now!" Ino huffed, impatient, as Choji sighed, moaning about not finishing his bag of crisps yet. Sakura laughed, but agreed and they made their way to their territories.

"Okay, we'll make a plan now." Sakura whispered to her teammates, as she saw Sasuke also talking to his team. "Shikamaru, you can stay here and guard our flag whilst me and Naruto be runners. Naruto, you can run straight up the left side of the pitch and I'll get the right. If we manage to get past atleast Ino and Choji, the rest will be easy. Got it?" Sakura had expected him to tell her to repeat it, but, surprisingly, he nodded, determined. She beamed, readying in her position.

It seemed that Ino, Choji and Sasuke had gone for a different strategy as they started the game, all running at them at once. Ino had attempted to tag Sakura once she had crossed over, but Sakura slid underneath her arm.

 _Heh, can't get me that easily. I've had to play this game more times than you could imagine_. Sakura said to herself, _Oh yes, 7 years of Capture The Flag_ hell...

Sakura now had to deal with the fact that Naruto had just been tagged, and he was sitting in the jail, pouting. Choji was guarding the jail, distracted, eating. Sakura took her chance and made a dash to get to him, but quickly re-routed as she heard Shikamaru shout her name. Ah, there was Sasuke, running with their flag. Sakura paced across to her territory, and just before he could cross to his side, she tapped him on his waist. He sighed, returning the flag and sitting in their jail.

 _One down._ Sakura smirked evily in satisfaction. Ino was immediately trying to retrieve Sasuke. _Predictable._ Sakura inwardly frowned, tagging Ino aswell.

Ino looked more infatuated with the fact that she could stand in such a close proximity with Sasuke with a reason rather than the truth that they may in fact lose the game. Choji was on full alert now, pacing between the flag and Naruto. He'd even put his crisps to the side to pay attention to the game.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called over to Sakura. She halted on her territory to listen to him. "Just take the flag and run!" He told her. She shook her head.

"No, that'd be too easy." She chuckled in response, and he hesitantly raised an eyebrow in question.

She darted towards him, too fast for Choji to catch her, and tapped Naruto, freeing him from jail. They smirked to eachother before running over to their side, all whilst Choji was in hot pursuit. They reached their flag-post and Sakura handed Naruto the flag.

"Naruto, place it!" She shouted, encouraging the boy as he planted it firmly in the grass, concluding the game. Sakura cheered for Naruto, patting his back, although Naruto knew that Sakura had done all the work.

"Good game." Sasuke smiled at Sakura and Naruto. Sakura nodded, smiling in response as she saw a tint of red appear on his cheeks. _He must be flustered from the game._ She evaluated, and then felt her own temperature with the back of her hand on her forehead, _Jeez, I'm probably much worse_.

"Well played, children." A deep voice cut through the laughter of the 7-year-olds.

Sakura looked up and immediately recognised the chakra as the ANBU that had watched her scale the tree. He still had his mask on, but she could see strands of silver hair poking out from beneath it. She held her breath, hoping she wasn't caught - and his gaze fell onto her. She stayed silent, waiting for him to yell at her that she was a spy or something incredulous like that, but nothing happened. If he had an opinion anywhere close to that, he certainly didn't say anything about it.

Sasuke had cut through the tension saying he needed to get back to his mother because it was getting dark, and Ino had started walking after him, followed by Choji and Shikamaru. Shikamaru nodded a silent _'good game'_ to her before he turned to leave. Now it was just the ANBU, Naruto and Sakura. Sakura looked up at the man, feeling confident all of a sudden as a question that had plagued her mind ever since she found out slipped her tongue.

"Why do you follow Naruto around?" Sakura asked. The ANBU hadn't been expecting that, by the looks of it, as he didn't have a prepared answer.

"Quite observant, I see." He stated the obvious. Sakura opened her mouth to respond when Naruto suddenly clasped Sakura's hand and was pulling her the opposite direction of the man.

"Naruto, what are you...?"

"You shouldn't speak to them." Naruto told her, his voice hoarse, for some reason. His eyes looked pained, and she felt a tad guilty.

"Oh, I didn't realise." She looked up to meet his blue orbs. "Sorry." She muttered. Naruto smiled.

"It's fine, Sakura-chan." He laughed, his expression dulling again once more. "They just...I don't really like them. They creep me out." Sakura nodded her head in understanding.

"So, are we heading to your house now?" Sakura asked him. Naruto shook his head negative.

"No, we're going to _our_ house." He corrected, and Sakura was smiling again.

"Ok, Naruto. Lead the way."

* * *

Ok, wow, that was a long chapter! Sorry if Sasuke seemed a bit OOC in this, but I could imagine him being a lot more upbeat and emotional with his family not being, y'know, _dead._ And yes, I'm sure you all recognise who the ANBU is, under that mask. And...his other mask? lol

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed because I will be updating soon. Leave your questions in the reviews and I will be answering them!


	5. Chapter 5

Sakura and Naruto walked quietly down the dimly-lit street as Sakura scowled at the ground. Naruto noticed and turned to face her, curious and concerned.

"Sakura-chan, is something wrong?" He asked as her emerald eyes landed on him and she sighed, and by the sounds of it she had been holding it in for a while.

"He's still following us." She told Naruto. He looked mildly confused for a second, before he registered who she was talking about and his gaze landed on the trees, but Sakura shook her head.

"Not there. On the roofs." She nodded to the houses to the right of him, trying her best to be subtle about her actions. Naruto looked up and _yes,_ there he was. The ANBU wasn't even _trying_ to hide at this point.

Naruto sighed, but then came the question of how Sakura knew he was there.

"How did you know, Sakura-chan?" He questioned her, as she raised an eyebrow at him, confused as to what he was on about. He clarified quickly, "That he was there."

"I could sense his chakra." She shrugged, and Naruto looked baffled for a minute before he asked her how. "I was taught by my onee-chan. It's easy once you get the hang of it. You just have to tap into your surroundings; it's a bit overwhelming at first, because you suddenly feel as if your senses have just awakened, and you're sort of bombarded with all of these different feelings. Once you get used to the feeling of it, you can tell that all chakra has a different feeling to it, and it's easy to analyze who's around you and where they are. His chakra feels...weird. Neutral, I guess you could say. It feels so mundane, but, it's also got a different enticing feeling that I can't exactly describe to you, even if I wanted to." Naruto gaped, his eyes narrowing slightly at her in silent accusation.

"Is that why you're so good at Hide and Seek, then?" He voiced, and Sakura chuckled, nodding. "Why do you get all of the cool abilities?" He groaned, and Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"You do realise that once we get into the academy, you'll be able to do them aswell?" She pointed out, and he sighed in defeat.

"We won't be in the same classes though, will we? You're supposed to be starting a year early, aren't you? That's what your onee-chan was saying when we were walking to the old man's tower." Sakura frowned at this thought.

"I...I want to be in the same classes, Naruto, I really do. But I..." She looked towards him, and he looked crestfallen, his bottom lip sticking out. She swallowed past the lump in her throat. "I'll talk to the Hokage about it..." And Naruto suddenly beamed, jumping onto her, almost knocking her over and squeezing her tightly, repeating 'thank you' over and over again. She laughed. And then she smelt something delicious, and her senses led her eyesight to land on a ramen stand, and she looked entranced. Naruto noticed and grinned.

"That's Ichiraku's!" He told her, brightly. "He's got the best ramen this village sells! Ne, you hungry, Sakura-chan? Wanna go eat there?" Sakura looked confused and tilted her head.

"What's ramen? Is it good?" Sakura quizzed. Leaving a stunned Naruto to gasp.

"You've never tried _ramen?_ Oh god, Sakura-chan, have you been living under a rock!?" He panicked, gripping her wrist firmly and dragging her to the stand. "I don't even know where Jiji moved us to, so we'll just eat to pass time...God, you've actually never tried ramen!"

"Uh, well, I just-"

"Naruto, good to see ya'!" A hefty voice interrupted, as Sakura turned to see the large man who sat behind the counter.

"Hey, Ichiraku-san!" Naruto greeted, walking round the counter and hugging him. Sakura followed.

"Eh, who's this?" Ichiraku smiled gently as Naruto swung an arm over her shoulders.

"This is my new friend: Sakura-chan! She saved me from Ami and now we're practically besties!" He boasted as Ichiraku chuckled. "She's hungry, so I brought her here!" He beamed at his much older friend.

"Ah, well, Sakura-chan, I'm pleased to have you eating here!" He chuckled, bowing, as Sakura bowed back, proffesionally.

"It's my pleasure to _be_ eating here." She countered, gently smiling at him before Ichiraku clapped his hands together and asked them what they would like to eat. Sakura had turned to Naruto for suggestions as he just licked his lips greedily and exclaimed,

"The usual!" As then Ichiraku waited hesitantly for Sakura's order.

"Um, just get me what Naruto's getting." She told him shyly, as Ichiraku chuckled, understanding her situation and nodded towards her before turning and walking into the kitchen.

"Ne, Sakura-chan," Naruto asked her, a bit quieter than he usually is. Sakura raised her eyes to look at him, mentally indicating for him to continue. "How long have you been training for?"

"Ever since I could walk and talk." She shrugged. Naruto seemed concerned.

"Which was when you were _how_ old?" He asked her again, as her lips fell into a straight line.

"Since I was about...eh, one?" She answered, shrugging her shoulders as Naruto fell silent. "What's wrong?"

"I don't mean to sound disrespectful or anything, Sakura-chan, but," He stopped, searching for the right words. "It seems like your parents or something were kinda forcing you." He finished. And Sakura sighed.

"Whether they were forcing me or not, I still chose the shinobi life on my own accord." She pointed out, making sure to say 'shinobi' and not 'kunoichi' due to how they had a tendency to gradually turn into mere housewives. Sakura snarled, mentally. She wouldn't have _that_ kind of life.

"I understand that, but I think that training you to be a ninja should've been your choice, aswell." He pursed his lips, concerned for his friend. Sakura chuckled lightly.

"Clan kids don't get it _that_ easy, Naruto." She shrugged, as he had to do a double take.

"You're from a clan?" He asked her, as her eyes widened, realizing her blunder. She looked up in fear and quickly shook her head, dismissing him.

"J-just a civilian one. Nothing special." She lied, stiffening. Naruto nodded, buying into it. "And, anyway. When they trained me it was for my own benefit. I wouldn't argue against getting training if it meant helping me get into a career that I actually wanted." Naruto sighed, resting his whiskered cheek onto his hand.

"Sometimes you talk so... _grown up_." He admitted, almost sounding disgusted. Sakura laughed.

"I told you before, I didn't _know_ any kids my age. I hung around with adults my whole life; what would you expect?" She shook her head, chuckling.

Naruto smiled in mental agreement, before Ichiraku placed two steaming-hot bowls of ramen in front of them. The scent was just heavenly. Sakura dug in, as did Naruto, although his eating was much more...uncivilised, as he finished before Sakura had even gotten halfway through hers and ordered a second bowl.

Once they had finished, Sakura took out a scroll and pulled out some money from it, slapping it on the table as Naruto looked on with a mix of awe and jealousy, mumbling,

"Another ability!?" as Sakura laughed. Once Naruto realised she was trying to pay, he shoved her money back into her hands.

"No, don't pay for it, _I'm_ the one who dragged you here." He protested, until she pushed the money back to him.

"I'm the one who took interest in the first place." She argued, and then he pushed it back to her.

"No, seriously, Sakura-chan. The old man pays for mine." He folded his arms, looking quite tencious in Sakura's persective. She sighed, smiling a littled at the boy's concerned and stubbornly unyeilding nature.

"Yes, _yours._ I'll pay for _mine_ then, if that's the case." She left it where it was, and smiled at Naruto who was about to protest again, before she cut him off. "Naruto, just let me pay for it. I'm fine on money at the moment. Honestly, I've got too much and it needs spending." Sakura rolled her eyes, reminding herself how much her over-protective parents made her take with her, and adding on to that Haname was coming with a daily top-up on her currency every week.

Naruto finally agreed and they began on the trek to find Naruto's apartment which had been lended to him and Sakura on the condition that an ANBU stay with them-

 _Oh._ Sakura realised, telling herself that was the reason that silver-haired ANBU was in their shadows. Sakura turned around, much to Naruto's surprise, and shouted into the darkness.

"ANBU-san, if you're still there," She added, portraying herself as uncertain of his presence and making sure not to exploit herself too much, even though she knew for a fact he was there. "You can come out now. You might aswell walk with us if you're coming home with me and Naruto. You could show us the way to his apartment...We don't know where it is." The ANBU landed on the ground in front of Sakura, and raised a hand, waving. She waved back and turned, running off to catch up with Naruto.

The ANBU took lead in front of the children, walking towards Naruto's apartment as the children followed him.

"Wait, the old man's put us _here?"_ Naruto asked as if the Hokage was stupid. They had stopped in front of a rather large compound with many houses inside. Sakura's eyes fell on the sign that read _"Uchiha District."_

"It's in the Uchiha District?" Sakura questioned, as if the people who put them in there were making a mistake. They weren't _Uchiha,_ and Sakura was under the impression that this District was merely for Uchiha.

"I dunno, the old man told me he was gonna have to move me to somewhere else cus' my house is too small for the both of us...or something like that," He mumbled, scratching his cheek unconciously. "I didn't think he'd put us in _this_ dump, though."

Sakura turned to the ANBU and noticed he was reading an orange book that held the title _"Icha Icha Paradise."_ and a rather mature cover. She shook her head, disgusted.

"Why are you reading that book? It's repulsive...Pornography should not be looked at so...openly." Sakura folded her arms, shuddering and glaring at him as Naruto chuckled. His chakra rippled with something close to offense.

"It's not pornography, it's erotic literature. There's a _difference."_ He corrected, scoffing to which in reply Sakura rolled her eyes and muttered a little,

"Whatever helps you sleep at night..." which she was positive he'd heard.

They walked into the Uchiha Compound, Sakura receiving a lot of unusual looks by a few of the Uchihas who were out at night. Sakura was sure that her bright pink hair was what had caught her attention, and she honestly wouldn't blame them. Seeing a streak of pink bobbing around at dead midnight in the Uchiha District of all places would seem pretty strange to some.

They reached the apartment and the ANBU unlocked the four locks on the door, and Naruto bounced inside whilst Sakura looked around, cautious, before stepping in.

"Why so many locks?" Sakura question the ANBU, as he shrugged, walking down the hall as they talked.

"Shouldn't you feel safe? It's good security." He shrugged, turning his gaze back to his orange book.

"Are we _that_ important?" Sakura teased, flicking her hair back cheekily as the ANBU stared blankly at her, seemingly unaffected by her blatant attempt at humoring him.

Maybe if _that man_ hadn't offered him a place in _that organisation,_ he probably would've played along with the girl.

"Why so many questions?" He retorted, as Sakura turned to the man, folding her arms defiantly.

"Why not?" She countered, smirking, as they entered Naruto and Sakura's new bedroom.

"Shouldn't you be going to bed?" He snarled.

"Shouldn't _you_ put away that god-awful book?" She snarled back. He narrowed his eyes at her through the mask.

"Shouldn't you stop acting like an _arrogant little-"_

"SHOULDN'T YOU _BOTH_ SHUT UP!? I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!" Naruto screamed from his bed, emphasis on _'trying'._ They both stopped their arguing as Naruto meekly added; "Sorry, Sakura-chan...I didn't mean to be rude. But tell that ANBU to close his trap." as Sakura chuckled, shaking her head.

The living room and kitchen were connected, and when you walked down the hallway, a big room housed two beds on either side. Naruto had jumped on one bed at the opposite side of the room, as Sakura had took the other bed. The ANBU had decided to place himself on a chair in the middle of the two beds.

Sakura didn't understand why, though. It's not like he was keeping an _eye_ on them anyway - unintentional pun - as he was much more infatuated with his disgusting book.

She waited a while for the ANBU to leave the room so she could start meditating, what with all his giggling at the profanity of his book putting her off. However, he didn't budge, and she had to bring attention to this.

"Can you go?" She challenged, raising an eyebrow at him. He looked up at her, his black eyes narrowing through his mask-holes.

"Getting changed?" He assumed, getting up to leave, and she shook her head.

"I'm meditating," She correcting, raising a fragile hand to gesture for him to 'shoo'. "And you are a _massive_ distraction. Let me concentrate." The ANBU was silent for a minute as he turned to look at Naruto, as if evaluating whether he was asleep or not.

What with his evened-out breathing and rise and fall of his chest, the ANBU deemed that he in fact was, and turned back to look at Sakura.

"You're talent is exponential. So, _Sakura,"_ He drawled her name out like poison on his tongue. "Want to tell me why that is? As far as _I_ know, you're from a civilian family with little to no shinobi records." He said, almost as if accusing her of something. She gritted her teeth.

"Are you encouraging the fact that civilians cannot train for a shinobi career they so desperately want?" She questioned, rhetorically. "I _trained._ I don't understand why you sound so suspicious with me, what with prodigies being born here and there all over your village. You're making it seem as I took a shortcut to this; and I can assure you that I worked just as hard as any other normal human would when they wanted to achieve something great."

Sakura scowled at him. That _was_ the truth, after all. _Yes,_ she was from a powerful clan she did not know the origins of. _No,_ she hadn't let anyone know. But did she really _need_ to? It wasn't necessary. Her parents hadn't told her what was so great about her family tree that they felt the need to keep it a secret, but nonetheless, she obliged anyway. Her clan had nothing to do with her talent. Or so she thought...

"I am not encouraging anything of the sort, however, you forgot to mention that half of our 'prodigies' are from special clans that possess Kekkei Genkai and have many shinobi tricks and traits to pass down to their offspring." He told her, quietly as to not wake Naruto. Tilting his head to the side, he analyzed her. "I am not debating whether you trained or not, just who you trained _with,_ and how much experience they had to teach a child as young as you. What did you _expect_ me to think?" His voice fell to a whisper so that Naruto could not here his next words, "You show up out of nowhere, befriend the most feared and hated person in the village, offer him your unconditional love and take him under your wing, dealing with his problems. Do you think that happens on an every day basis here?" Sakura scowled at the man and positioned herself into her meditation stance.

There was something off about this 'ANBU' and she was going to find out one way or another. Apparently, he had the same idea in stock for her, aswell.

"Well I apologize for being a kind person." She choked out, as the man stayed still. "Maybe you people just can't appreciate kindness. That must be it, then." She concluded. "Maybe you're not used to people being friendly, but let me sit up on the fact that people have a tendency to be kind when they feel guilty, sympathetic or empathetic, and I can't exactly say that I wasn't like Naruto growing up, because that would be a lie." She opened her sharp eyes and turned her head towards the ANBU standing in her doorway. "I won't sit by and let him suffer by himself, like all of you that follow him around and do nothing to offer him companionship do."

"That's not _my_ job." He replied coolly, as she snapped, her expression morphing into one of rage. Sakura was _trying_ to stay level-headed in this situation, however it seemed that whatever rage-cannon was inside of her wasn't exactly allowing that to happen.

"It wasn't your _job?"_ She repeated, seething. "Your job looks to be to protect him, and I don't assume that you took into account that leaving him to sit by himself every day isn't exactly _helping_ his situation. His loneliness probably consumed him, as you sat by and acted like everything was okay! You left him _broken_ \- you should've seen when I first introduced myself, he turned around to double check if I was actually _talking_ to him. Do people treat him with _that_ much neglect? You are absolutely malicious. _Leave."_ Sakura demanded, walking over to the door and slamming it into the ANBU's face. She returned to her bed and decided to finish her meditation as a way to restore her chakra and maybe calm her down a little.

 _Well,_ She thought, _That could've gone a tad bit better..._

* * *

And chapter 5 is finished! Wow, Sakura really went out lol. I tried to make Naruto's loneliness as personal to her as possible so that she could actually empathise with him. Kakashi's a bit of a dick, isn't he? Oh well, he seems suspicious of her...we'll have to carry this analogy onto the next chapters and find out whyyyyyyyyyyyy


	6. Chapter 6

Morning went slow for Sakura. After restoring her chakra, she went straight to sleep. It was strange, but when she woke up, she recalled an odd dream.

{Dream}

 _Itachi was stood above a sea of blood and bodies scattered over the Uchiha Compound. Sasuke's mother lay by his feet, along with a man that could've possibly been Sasuke's father if Sakura was basing off resembelance. Itachi's eyes were cold and unfeeling as they shone a crimson red, the bottom half of his face tucked away underneath his cloak. Sakura watched on in horror, behind a glass that split the two apart. It was inevitable that Sasuke had stumbled across Itachi, and was obviously broken by seeing his family members so easily disposed like this._

 _Sakura banged on the glass, trying her best to break through, but to no avail. She screamed a hoarse 'no!' but it seemed as if they didn't even know she was there. Sasuke and Itachi stood under the moonlight in silence for a minute, the only audible noise being the rustling of leaves nearby under the wind and the heavy breathing of the younger Uchiha. Sasuke was the first to break the silence, his voice meek and fearful._

 _"W-why'd y-you d-do this, Aniki?" Sasuke asked, hypervenilating as his eyes darted from body to body, before landing back on Itachi when he began to speak._

 _Sakura's eyes widened._

Aniki? _She thought._ Since when had they been brothers?

 _When had she found out about this? She hadn't...had she?_

 _"To test my limit..." Was all Itachi said, before Sasuke crumpled to his knees, weak and sobbed. It shattered Sakura's fragile heart, and she turned to look away, unable to resist the scarily realistic stench and unsightly view of the corpses that were laid so disrespectfully against the cold concrete of the Uchiha District's streets._

And that was all that had happened, before Sakura had woke up panicked and in a cold sweat.

{End of dream}

Sakura was confused when she woke up and realised that it was a dream, for a lot of reasons, but also for the fact that Sasuke had called Itachi "Aniki" despite Sakura having no knowledge that they were apparent brothers. Wouldn't that also make Sasuke an Uchiha? Where did all of this come from? It would make sense, looks-wise, but she would definitely have to ask if she ends up meeting Sasuke again.

Sakura fit her clothes on and made her way to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. By some horrible chance, the ANBU was sat in the living room, however, he laid asleep on the couch. Her eyes widened as she realised he wasn't wearing his mask, instead a smaller one that covered his mouth stood in it's place. Sakura choked back a scream when he opened his only viewable eye and stared at her. She turned away quickly, fumbling with random things on the counter to make it seem as if she wasn't just looking at him. But she should've known better to think he would've fell for something like that.

"You know, it's rude to stare at people when they're sleeping." He commented humourlessly, to which Sakura turned to face him, an eyebrow raised.

"You know, it's unprofessional to have your mask off when your _feigning_ sleep." She replied as dryly as he did, as his eyes narrowed at her.

"Touché." He responded, before pointing to the smaller mask on his face. "However, I am not _without_ one." Sakura shrugged.

"That's not your ANBU mask, though, is it?" She side-eyed him.

"Doesn't matter, my shift was over hours ago anyway. Maybe I didn't even have a shift as an ANBU. Who knows?" He said monotonously, as she opened her mouth to retort, smirking.

Unbeknownst to Sakura, the message he was trying to convey was hidden in the parts _'as an_ ANBU'.

"You're shift was over, but you're still in our apartment?" She put her hands on her hips and turned to face him as he chuckled.

"My job may not be to protect Naruto, but maybe that I will do." He repeated their argument from last night, making Sakura's smirk form into a frown. "Even if it means I do overtime." Sakura was silent for a minute.

"I'm sorry for last night I-well, I'm not _usually_ like that." She told him, as he nodded in understanding. "I don't know why I got so mad, I just-" Her eyes darted to Naruto's door as she sighed. "I feel so protective over him, you know? And...I really do apologise, ANBU-san." The man's eyes crinkled upwards, indicating he was smiling underneath his mask.

"Apology accepted. Also, call me Hatake-san, Sakura. My first name is Kakashi, just so you know." He offered, as she almost spluttered, stopping what she was doing with widened eyes.

"But that's... _unprofessional."_ She said in disgust as Kakashi chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"I don't mind," He shrugged, pointing towards her. "You might be a brat, but your heart's in the right place." He complimented, as Sakura smiled.

"Thank you, Hatake-san." She said with a nod, a faint red tint appearing on her cheeks.

She turned away to try and hide her embarrassment, but Kakashi did not miss a beat in teasing her.

"Am I _that_ good looking, eh?" He grinned, chuckling lightly as Sakura glanced at him, unamused.

"Conceited, _too,_ by the sounds of it." She insulted, as he raised an eyebrow at her half-hearted insult.

"Oh?" He said, leaving Sakura confused. What? Did she say something? "'Too'?" He repeated, as Sakura facepalmed, realising her mistake.

"I pity your social life, Hatake-san," She shook her head as he chuckled, opening his mouth to comment on something, before she corrected herself. "That is, if you _have_ one."

As if on cue to end the awkward silence that ensued as Kakashi read his book, Naruto walked in, looking slightly more...upset than he usually was.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sakura asked, walking up to him as he shook his head, putting a hand out in front of her to stop her walking any closer to him.

"Nothing, I just-" He stopped for a minute, closing his eyes. "I didn't get much sleep last night." He said, not half-lying. Kakashi and Sakura both glanced at each other, thinking the same thing.

 _Shit, he heard our argument over him_. Sakura mentally hit herself, _And I was acting as if he needed saving, and that he was lonely and- oh god how should I apologise?_

Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out when she did. Naruto seemed to understand and smiled gently, as she watched on, confused.

"It's okay, Sakura-chan. I heard." He told her, shrugging. "But you were sticking up for me, so thank you." He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed tightly, Sakura took a few minutes to recover and hugged back. Sakura smiled at him when he pulled back and she pointed to the toaster.

"If you want to make breakfast, you can. I'm going to go out for a walk, Naruto." She smiled, and he grinned, nodding.

"Yeah, but I'm not having toast." He said, enthusiastically swinging open a cupboard to reveal pots and pots of ramen as he jumped up and down excitedly. "Bingo!" He exclaimed, fisting the air.

"Aha...well," Sakura awkwardly laughed, backing out of the door. "See you, Naruto. I'll meet you later." She smiled, closing the door and heading to the open field next to the park to go and train.

By the time she had reached the field, she realised she had not told Naruto where they were to meet after. She rolled her eyes, but otherwise convinced herself that he would be easy to find anyway.

 _A loud, obnoxious blonde roaming the streets - who could miss it_? She chuckled to herself. She raised an eyebrow, scanning for chakra signals when she realised that the ANBU actually hadn't followed her. She relaxed, realising she was not being watched.

She did a series of hand signs quickly and blew a fireball, about the size of an adult horse. She was rather pleased with herself, and decided she was going to try and perfect her taijutsu. She practiced her kicks, punches, blocking and dodging for a while before moving onto her swordsmanship. She cast a clone next to her, and she grabbed two long sticks, handing one to her clone. They battled, albeit a bit one-sided and predictable to Sakura. It obviously wasn't working, as they both knew each other's movememts. With a sigh, she dispelled the clone and sat down.

 _It's hard not having a sparring parter around,_ She groaned, throwing her head into her hands. _Why did onee-chan have to leave me here on my own?_

"Oh. Hi, Sakura." A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts, and she turned to see Sasuke in front of her. His mother was trailing after him, not far behind. Sakura stood up and smiled at him.

"Hi, Sasuke. What are you doing here?" She asked him, curious as she nodded silently towards him in greeting.

"I was on my way to the park. What are _you_ doing here?" He countered, looking around at the debris from her training. Sakura looked around aswell, a nervous look on her face.

"I was training." She told him simply, and he looked a little interested.

"Capture The Flags?" He joked, grinning. Sakura laughed.

"I was practising my swordsmanship and taijutsu." She told him. "But, as you could see, it's not too fun with one person." She shrugged.

"I could train with you." He suggested, and she smiled. As much as she would like to, she might hurt his male ego a little...Which also reminded her, she had some questions to ask.

"Um, yeah." She accepted, despite not really wanting to. "Hey, Sasuke, can I ask you something?" She questioned.

"You just did." He joked again, smirking. She did not laugh, however. She was pretty shaken up about last night's dream, and if her somehow obtained knowledge turned out to be true, she would be even more freaked out. Sasuke seemed to notice her seriousness and his expression faultered. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

"Not really, no." She told him honestly, earning a curious glance from him. She was going to ask him about Itachi, but it seems his mother had finally caught up with him.

"Ne, ne, Sasuke-chan," She shook her head, her black locks flying over her shoulders. "It's not nice to run off from your poor old mother like that." Sasuke pouted.

"Sorry..." He apologised, reminding himself that she was _not_ so gentle and caring when she was angered. His mother's eyes finally landed on Sakura, and Sakura could swear that she beamed. Like, really beamed.

"Ah, hello there!" She grinned at Sakura, who smiled gently back. "And who might you be? Has my little Sasuke-chan found love already!?" She squealed, as Sakura and Sasuke frowned, both of their cheeks dusted a slight red.

"Okaa-san, she is my friend. We only met yesterday." He quickly told her, making her chuckle.

"Oh, yes! I _do_ remember seeing a girl with pink hair. It is quite hard to forget, I think." She giggled, and smiled at Sakura. "So, what's your name, young lady?"

"I'm Sakura." Sakura smiled, as the woman grinned.

"What a lovely name! It fits you perfectly, dear." She complimented, her gaze falling onto her pink hair. "Especially your hair. Oh, is it real?" She questioned, and Sakura nodded.

"Yes, miss, I was born with it." She replied, unsure of what to call her.

"Call me Mikoto, Sakura-chan." She smiled, and Sakura nodded.

 _Great, still haven't gotten a second name,_ Sakura cursed inwardly.

"Okay, Mikoto-san." She complied, as Mikoto turned to Sasuke.

"I take it you'll be fine playing with Sakura-chan, then?" She questioned, and Sasuke nodded in reply. "Okay then, I'll be off. Play nice, children!" She waved, before walking off. Sasuke turned to look at Sakura.

"Okay, Sakura. What's wrong?" He questioned, his lips pursed. Sakura shook her head, dismissively.

She didn't want to tell him about the dream, because that would just freak him out and probably convince Sasuke that Sakura was fucking _nuts_ \- but she did, however, want to ask him if Itachi was in some way related to him. If she was to do that, and act like that was what was wrong, Sasuke would ask why she had made such a big deal out of that, making him somewhat weary of her.

"Nothing, honestly. But, I did want to ask, Sasuke," She started, looking off to the side. "Do you know who Itachi is?" She asked. Sasuke snorted.

 _"Know_ him? He's my big brother." He replied, and Sakura practically froze.

 _Oh god_ , She swallowed.

Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad - she only had one thing confirmed, right?

"Is he...close with your parents?" Sakura asked him, telling herself that; actually, she didn't want to hear the answer. She watched on however, as his face screwed up in confusion.

"Why?" He asked her, as she nervously looked at him. How was she supposed to answer that?

"Just wondering." She told him. Mentally slapping herself.

 _"Just wondering"?_ She screamed internally, _H_ _ow cheesy could you get!?_

"Um...okay," He started, confused. "I guess not. I mean, I've never really seen him talk to my parents for other reasons than business and clan purposes, but..." He cut himself off, answering her question.

Okay, only one last thing to confirm and she would start up a psychic corporation.

"What's your otou-san's name?" She asked, making him all the more confused.

"Okay, Sakura, why do you want to know all of this?" He asked, shaking his head as she huffed in annoyance.

"I thought I saw someone who looked like your otou-san, so I just wanted to know," She lied, quickly finding herself conjuring up another one. "Also, I live in the Uchiha Compound with Naruto now," Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction. "So I would like to know who the Clan Head is."

 _Right. Okay. That was kind of believable._ She told herself, convinced.

"You live in the Uchiha Compound?" He asked her as she nodded. "How come?"

"I didn't have a place to stay after coming to the village a day ago, so they placed us into the Uchiha Compound, because nowhere else was available." She told him, adding the truth onto a lie. Sasuke nodded, seemingly buying into it.

"Ah, well, my otou-san is Fugaku Uchiha. You'll know it's him if you see him around, he normally makes himself known." Sasuke told her, and Sakura nodded, thanking him. He smiled slightly back.

 _Right, next on the agenda,_ Sakura thought, _find Fugaku Uchiha and see what he looks like. If he looks like what he did in my dream, I'm probably going to pass out._

"So, would you like to spar now?" Sakura asked, as Sasuke nodded.

"Could we do taijutsu only? I'm not too good at that and I'd like to improve." Sasuke asked her. Sakura suddenly grinned evily, making Sasuke nervous.

"Taijutsu only, you said?" Sakura questioned, eyes gleaming dangerously. Sasuke nodded slowly, suspicious, before speaking.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Sakura simply chuckled.

"Oh, nothing..." She giggled, waving her hand dismissively. Haname was going to be _so_ proud of her and what she was about to do.

They got in their stances and Sakura shouted,

"Go!"

Sasuke didn't immediately move, which was his first mistake as Sakura sped off and circled him. He was a bit dazed - how could she move this fast? She sent an intentionally weak punch towards him which he caught, stumbling. She acted out vulnerability, baiting him, as he went to swing for her, but she dodged underneath and swiped his legs, causing him to fall to the floor. He got up and sent a fist to her stomach, to which she smirked, shunshinning behind him and hitting his pressure point, causing him to fall to the floor. He stood up and scowled at her, realising his loss.

"You said taijustu only, that was cheating." Sasuke growled at her. Sakura almost bursted with pent-up laughter, recalling the exact same moment she had said that to Haname before. She nodded her head empathetically.

"I know, I know, but that wasn't cheating." She told him, shrugging. "I said taijutsu, _yes,_ but I didn't say no chakra." Sasuke sighed, dropping to the floor.

"I _lost."_ He muttered, almost as if he couldn't believe it. Sakura nodded, plopping herself down on the grass next to him.

"I was going easy on you, you know." She boasted, destroying his ego even more. Sasuke glanced at her, and she chuckled.

"Where did you learn that?" He asked her, and she raised an eyebrow. Where did he _think_ she had learned it?

"My onee-chan taught me." She told him, and he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"She must be really good." He said, and it took Sakura a minute to process that it was actually a compliment, and she smiled at him.

"Yeah, she is." Sakura smiled at the ground, and looked up to meet his gaze. "She's better than me though. Like, really better. I think my Kaa-san and Tou-san want me to become as strong as her, but I don't know how I'm going to do it." She frowned, and Sasuke sent her an empathetic look.

"I know how you feel." He responded, and Sakura looked up, interested. "Otou-san has always told me that Itachi-nii was a better ninja than me, and that if I didn't get my act together I will never be the next successor of the Uchiha. It's annoying, really, but I can see what they mean now." He admitted. Sakura frowned.

"Hey, don't say that. You did really well - better than what anyone else your age could do here." She complimented, and she could feel his chakra ripple with something close to relief. "I just think that you need to train a little more. It's good to have breaks inbetween your training sessions, but too much of a break can leave you on-edge and maybe you'll even forget some things. The only reason I'm good at this is because I trained really hard every day, and I didn't really get to have breaks. Everyone treated me like I was really special and that if I didn't become strong I would be a failure. Onee-chan doesn't think of me that way, though. I don't think my parents do, either, to be honest, but I can't be too sure."

"That sounds awful." He told her honestly, frowing. "Did you ever protest?" Sakura looked at him, curiously.

"Why _would_ I?" She questioned, rhetorically, looking away. "I was brought up that way. I thought it was the norm, I guess. I thought everyone had to do what I did - apparently I was wrong." She pointed out, chuckling lightly. Sasuke didn't really know what to say, but blurted out what seemd to be the most appropriate thing.

"Um, sorry." He shrugged, anxious. Sakura looked at him, an amused look and a raised eyebrow adorning her features. She snickered.

"Why are you _sorry?"_ She laughed, grinning. And he narrowed his eyes, embarrassed that she was going to make him actually _say_ it.

"I'm sorry that you had to live that life." He said matter-of-factly, as if she should've known what he meant when he had initially said it. Sakura smiled warmly at him, shaking her head.

"It's not your fault." She told him, as his expression seemed to loosen a bit. "Besides, like I said, I thought it was normal, so I didn't really oppose it." Sasuke nodded, seemingly convinced.

"Shall we go and play on the park now?" Sasuke asked her, and her smile dropped a little.

"Sorry, Sasuke, but I can't at the moment. I've got some things I need to do." She explained, as he frowned a little. "But I promise I'll play with you later if I see you." She stood up, turned and waved at Sasuke. He waved back.

"Bye, Sakura." He muttered, and Sakura giggled warmly.

"Ja ne, Sasuke." She said, walking off in another direction. Sasuke decided to go back to his mother as he had no one to play with.


	7. Chapter 7

Shortly after departing from Sasuke, Sakura was walking down a road surrounded by trees, before she suddenly heard a distinct muffled cry accompanied by the horrid sound of cruel laughter. She hesitantly followed the noise to where she spotted a beaten and bruised Naruto laid out on the floor, with Ami and an older boy looming over him. Sakura growled, overcome with a horrible burning feeling inside her chest.

"What do you think you're _doing!?"_ Sakura screamed, running in front of Naruto and glaring daggers at the two.

"That's her, Onii-san!" Ami rapidly explained, pointing at Sakura in her haste. 'Ah, her older brother...how gormless.' Sakura thought. "She's the freak!" Sakura growled at the obnoxious girl. Not for the fact that she was insulting her, for she cared not for that, but the beaten Naruto that had yet to be explained by either of the two.

 _"You're_ her?" He snarled, his teeth bared. "You were right Ami...she's _hideous._ Her forehead is _huge."_ He chuckled, taunting Sakura in an attempt to wind her up more and hopefully push her over the edge. Sakura's expression darkened.

"I'll ask you again. What. Were. You. Doing. To. Naruto?" She asked slowly, full of rage and pronouncing each word with careful anger. The older boy pulled something out of his pocket, it's shine glinting in the sun. Sakura quickly identified this as a knife. He tilted his head, analyzing the young woman.

"I heard you were bullying my little sister. I can't let that slide, can I?" He asked, grinning like a mad man. She opened her mouth to retort before he cut her off. "Your friend here was just mere collateral damage. He seemed to approve of you doing these horrendous things to her."

"Ah, so you're one of _those_ types. I know that you realise that what she does is horrible - but you're also horrible yourself, right?" She questioned, staring him up and down with disgust. "Do you think you're tough? And if so, would you like to test that theory?" She asked, clenching her fists open and closed.

"And what are you going to do? I'll slit your throat, and you'll lie there and bleed out whilst me and Ami laugh at your weakness." He sneered, pointing his knife at her. Sakura seemed to sense something off with Naruto's chakra, like it suddenly flared at the thought of Sakura being hurt. It was basically burning.

She quickly shook her head. She had to deal with this situation first. It was her primary focus.

"You seem to like handling blades. Well, that is something we have in common, you see..." She said calmly, closing her eyes and drawing her kunai from her holster that was positioned underneath her skirt. "Have you even ever _seen_ a blade cut someone, before?" She growled in a low voice, pressing her kunai to her hand and slicing it open. He looked at her, freaked out.

"What are you doing, you freak?" He asked, a little frightened, but otherwise stubborn and holding his ground. "Of course I've seen someone get cut before. Who do you think I _am!?"_ Sakura eyed his green vest.

"A chuunin who believes themselves worthy to hold the title 'ninja'." She pointed out, scowling. He narrowed his eyes. "You're not a ninja. You're human _trash._ I'll be willing show you what a _real_ ninja is, if you're not too scared." She threatened, twirling her kunai easily.

"I'll kill you!" He growled, launching for her, his knife in a weak grip in his right hand. She made a 'tch' sound before beginning to retaliate.

He made an attempt to drive his knife through her gut before she reached out and took his wrist, shunshinning behind him and pulling his hand behind his back, twisting it. She kicked the back of his shin, causing him to let out a grunt and crash onto the floor. She held her kunai to his neck, her breathing steady but her heart pounding from the excitement of a real fight, teeth gritted.

"S-Sakura-chan..." Naruto whispered, and she looked up to him, letting out a breath she didn't realising she was holding. Her gaze fell on Ami, who looked equally as frightened. Sakura growled, her hands gripping the kunai more, repressing her urge to slice his neck open right there and then.

"Just how gullible _are_ you?" She laughed out. Her voice dropped to a low snarl. "If I catch you hurting Naruto again," She leaned down and whispered a growl into his ear. "The outcome will not be the same. I will not hesitate to _fucking **gut**_ you, scumbag." She released his roughly, causing his face to crash into the dirt as she got up and brushed herself off, looking steadily into Ami's eyes.

"Y-You monster! W-what did you _do_ to him!?" Ami screamed, her hands clenched tightly at her chest, too afraid to move.

"What? Do you want the same thing to happen to _you?"_ Sakura blinked innocently at Ami, who violently shook her head in reply. Sakura narrowed her eyes at Ami. "Get your brother, and get the hell out of my sight." Ami quickly rushed over to help her brother up and they made off, before Ami glanced over her shoulder towards Sakura, clenched her fists.

"What the _hell_ did I just say? _Move!"_ She shouted, throwing her hands out as Ami flinched.

"N-next time," Ami started, regaining her confidence. "Next time I'll get my _Outo-san_ on you. He'll kill you for sure!" She said, overly-confident. Sakura just stared blankly at Ami.

"If you continue to stare at me like an obnoxious _dolt,_ there won't _be_ a next time." Sakura threatened, tilting her head to the side. "If I see you again, I'll kill you. If I see you near Naruto again, I'll kill your _brother._ If I see you hurt Naruto, I'll kill your whole _family."_ Ami tensed up, grabbing her brother's shoulder and running away. Sakura turned to Naruto, who was staring with wide eyes at her. Sakura ran up to him and enveloped him in a hug. She felt her shoulder suddenly soak, and indicator that Naruto was crying, as he quietly sobbed.

"Shh, shh...it's okay..." She comforted, rubbing circles on his back, something Haname did to her when she was upset - it always made her feel better. Naruto pulled back and wiped the tears from his cerulean blue eyes, gazing into her own emerald ones.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan..." He smiled at her, his eyes closed shut with tears threatening to spill again. Sakura's mouth formed a straight line as she fought the urge to frown.

"What happened? Are you okay?" She questioned. Naruto smiled at her, shaking his head.

"I'm fine, Sakura-chan." He told her, smiling. "Well, thanks to _you..."_

"What happened?" She repeated, looking a little more serious now. Naruto must have noticed her expression, because his smile faultered a little.

"I was...looking for you. I thought you would be at the park because...Well, I just had a feeling." He coughed awkwardly and continued. "I was walking down this road when I ran into Ami and her older brother. They...asked me where you were. I told them I didn't know, and then they said I was lying. They pushed me over and scruffed me up a bit, mostly Ami's older brother...then they kicked me on the floor for a while before you showed up." Sakura frowned, looking at the floor.

"I'm sorry, Naruto..." She told him sadly. His eyes widened, ready to protest against what she was about to say. "It's all my fault...If I hadn't...If you...They were looking for me, Naruto. Not you. I should've been here. I'm so, so sorry." She said, fumbling for her words.

Sakura quickly stumbled when a sudden chakra signature appeared out of nowhere in the trees, and, against her better judgement, her head quickly whipped to the signature's position. It was one she had encountered before, she was sure, but didn't exactly recognise. Naruto noticed as Sakura became uncomfortable and looked at where she was looking. There was someone in the trees, watching them. It wasn't even one of the masked men, it was someone in a clad black shirt and...wait. Naruto had to squint his eyes to make out the person.

"Is that _Itachi?"_ He whispered, and Sakura cursed under her breath, taking Naruto's hand and quickly turning to get away from him. Sakura heard a soft thud on the ground before a smooth voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Where do you think you're off to so suddenly?" Itachi asked her, raising an eyebrow at the confusing 7-year-old. Sakura's breath hitched as she clenched eyes shut. She had tried her hardest to forget what had happened in the dream, but it was just so hard to get the image out of her head, the look he had on his face, and those _eyes._ She looked back at him slowly, and it took every atom in her small body to not take off running with Naruto right then and there. She feigned confusion, looking at him over her shoulder.

"When did you get here?" She asked, curiously. Technically, that was a valid question that she actually had wanted the answer to, but she had seen him in the trees, and he knew that.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't play stupid with me. I know you saw me. Why do think I came out of the trees? There was no use staying in there if you had knowledge of my whereabouts." He looked right through her, and she almost shuddered. His voice was like velvet, yet so monotone. His eyes are what scare her the most, though. They seem like they hold many, many emotions, yet the only thing she could sense within those black eyes of his was indifference. She was scared of one minute looking at him and his eyes would be that crimson red colour; the exact same colour as in her dream. Which had also reminded her that she had one more thing to tick off before she could class that dream as something _more_ than a _dream._

"Ah, so I did." She responded, rolling her eyes. "But I didn't know when you got here, so you still have the audacity to tell me that." She corrected. Itachi's face did not change.

"I watched the whole thing. I followed you since you left the house back at my compound. I also saw how you have already gained my younger brother's friendship." He said, as almost as if he was surprised. Sakura furrowed her brow. How hadn't she sensed him? "And I also have a lot of questions to ask." He finished. Sakura had nothing to say. Why would she? How was she to respond to that? Sakura knew that this boy was no joke, and he did not take his title of 'Uchiha Prodigy' lightly. He was smart. And that was _exactly_ why Sakura was scared.

"Unfortunately, I believe I have some errands to run. If you happen to run into me again, you may ask me whatever you like." She told him, making sure to keep her voice in check. "However, whether I choose to answer those questions or not is entirely up to me. I am not permitted to tell you anything that I don't want to. I hope I am understood. Please don't follow me again." She told him, as he looked at her like she was a puzzle he yearned to piece together. Before he could ask anything more, she grabbed Naruto's hand and took off. It was no doubt that Itachi could catch up to them if he really wanted to, but she believed that he was a man of dignity, so he would hold her to her word.

"Um, what just happened, Sakura-chan?" Asked a very bemused blonde. Sakura cast a glance towards him, her mouth between a pout and a frown.

"I don't actually understand myself, Naruto." Sakura replied, her gaze falling to the ground. Truth be told, she didn't actually understand, but she had a feeling that Itachi knew more than he let on.

'There is no way I can let him find out about my clan.' She told herself, determined. She suddenly frowned, a question interrupting her train of thoughts. 'Why can't I, again? I know that Okaa-san and Otou-san told me not to tell anyone...but why can't anyone know? We're not even that important, are we?...' She shook her head, instead deciding that she would question her parents in a month's time. She heard Naruto exclaim suddenly.

"Oh!" He said, smiling at someone. Sakura inclined her head towards wherever Naruto was sending his smile towards. Sasuke was walking towards them calmly. "Hey, Sasuke-Teme!"

"Hey, Dobe," He said, smiling at Naruto, and then smiling towards Sakura. "Sakura." He nodded his head. Sakura nodded back, confused. She gestured inbetween the two of them.

"So, um, you two are..." She mentally searched for the right word to explain their friendship without upsetting either of them. "Civil?" Sasuke snickered and Naruto chuckled, patting Sasuke's shoulder.

"We're friends, Sakura-chan." He said, smiling gently at her. "I fight people whether I like them or not. It's nothing personal." Naruto shrugged.

"Even though the Usuratonkachi is the most obnoxious person I know...I suppose he's...tolerable." Sasuke admitted, as Naruto glared at him, pouting.

"I changed my mind. I don't like him, Sakura-chan." Naruto sniffed mockingly, insulted. A short laugh escaped Sakura's throat, a sound that seemed to satisfy Naruto and Sasuke as they smiled, their efforts not going unrewarded. Sakura's expression quickly dropped, her content seemingly short-lived. This didn't go unnoticed by either of the two boys.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Sasuke asked, and Sakura shook her head dismissively in response, her short pink hair falling into her face, as she made to play with it out of habit. Sasuke frowned, not happy that she was ignoring him. "I asked you a question." He reminded her, and her eyes flickered up to him for a second, morbidly unnafected by his subtle warnings.

"I am aware of that." She retorted, and his frown fell even more. He normally wouldn't care for a girl, but he concluded that this one was different. She didn't seem to be head-over-heels for him like every other girl he knew, and that alone already scored her top points and put her in his good books. "I just need to do something, okay? Nothing's wrong." Okay. That was a lie. Very much was wrong. But it's not like she could exactly explain it, could she? How was she supposed to tell him that 'Hey, if your dad looks like what he looked like in my dream, Itachi's gonna kill your whole family.' _without_ getting thrown into the loony cell? Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest defiantly, looking like a stubborn toddler in the process.

"Don't lie to me, Sakura." He warned, and she narrowed her eyes at him, as he did in return. He gestured to where Sakura was before. "I saw you talking to my Aniki. What were you talking about?" Sakura mentally sighed in relief. 'Okay. That's all he wanted to know.' She told herself.

"He said he wanted to ask me a few things." She explained, shrugging as if it should mean nothing to him. "He noticed that I moved into the Uchiha Compound, so I suppose he was just curious." She said, tugging on a strand of pink hair.

"He's not like that. He won't ask for people's time if it's not important." Sasuke argued, speaking as if he knew Itachi inside and out. "Aniki is an ANBU, so he can find out a lot of things easily. He wouldn't have asked you if he could find it out himself." Sakura's mouth formed a straight line. 'This kid just really doesn't give up...does he?' Sakura mentally rolled her eyes.

"What do you want me to say? What am I supposed to say?" Sakura seethed, throwing her hands on her hips. "I don't know what he wants. Maybe you should ask him yourself!" Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "In the meantime, I need to seek out your Otou-san." And Sasuke looked dumbfounded.

"Why?" He asked her. Sakura felt like wringing his neck and screaming 'Stop asking questions!' but that would surely get her in serious trouble. After a lot of mental debation, she settled for answering his question.

"I need to discuss some things with him." She seethed, trying her hardest to not kill the heir of one of the most powerful clans in Konoha. Sasuke stared blankly at the girl whose words were practically oozing with venom and- _oh-_ if looks could _kill._ Sasuke could tell she was annoyed with him.

"Ok." Sasuke gave in, rolling his eyes at her. "If you want to find him, you should talk to the Hokage. He'll know where Otou-san is." Sasuke provided her with the necessary information and she nodded at him, smiling.

"Thanks, Sasuke." She said gently. His eyes quickly widened before he huffed, averting his eyes and a tiny blush crept up to his cheeks. Sakura noticed, grinning. She poked his face, causing him to emit a surprised noise. "You're blushing." She commented, and his face grew shades darker.

"No I'm not, Usuratonkachi!" He growled, embarrassed. Sakura just chuckled and shook her head at him.

"That's _Naruto's_ nickname. You'll have to find me something more fitting, seeing as I'm smarter than the two of you combined..." Sakura challenged, still grinning at the boy who looked about ready to tear her head off for pointing out the obvious heat on his face. Before Sasuke could open his mouth to retort, Sakura cut him off. "Anyway, I'll be off. You two will be fine without me, right?" Sakura asked, tilting her head.

"We'll be fine, Sakura-chan! Don't worry about it! Besides," Naruto slyly commented, elbowing Sasuke in the side. "If he's mean to me; I'll just beat him up."

"As if you _could,_ Dobe." Sasuke scoffed, as Naruto pouted and crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing at Sasuke.

"Better believe it, Teme." Naruto mumbled under his breath as Sasuke grit his teeth in anger. His face was back to it's normal, healthy colour by now.

Predicting that they were seconds away from roughing up to eachother, Sakura growled, causing the two of them to whip their heads towards her. Expressions of guilt crossed their features, and Naruto coughed awkwardly, rubbing his neck and Sasuke just looked off into the trees. Sakura just laughed quietly to herself.

"You two are _something else."_ She joked, facepalming. "Don't fight while I'm gone. Please? For _me?"_ She asked, pulling out puppy-dog eyes. Naruto panicked.

"O-of _course,_ Sakura-chan! I would _never_ do anything to make _you_ mad!" He commented quickly, earning a mad look from the raven-haired Uchiha heir to his right. Sakura nodded, smiling as Sasuke agreed.

"Okay, I'll be off then." She finally said, sending a wave to the two boys. She smiled warmly, her features brightening. "Ja ne, Naruto, Sasuke." They nodded to her, as she did to them. She shunshinned away, leaving Naruto and Sasuke to stare at eachother, a look of challenge in their eyes as they grinned, cheekily.

"Hey, Teme... _Last one to the park's a rotten egg!_ "


	8. Chapter 8

A small, gentle hand knocked on the Hokage's doors as he fiddled with paperwork. Sensing Sakura's presence, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled lightly to himself.

"Come in, Sakura." He said quietly, but loud enough to make sure she had heard him. She opened the doors and waltzed in, walking to the Hokage's desk. "How may I be of service?" He asked her.

"I'd like to speak to Fugaku Uchiha, but I'm not exactly sure where he is." She admitted truthfully. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she was sure that he was going to ask her a question. Fortunately for her sake, he didn't ask why.

"Uchiha-san, you say?" He asked, almost curiously, stroking his beard. "I believe he should be in my meeting room with Danzo, Yamanaka-san, Nara-san and Hyuuga-san. As much as I would like to ask you why you would like to speak to him, I will respect your privacy." Sakura sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." She bowed, beaming at him. He smiled lightly back.

Sakura had to quickly think of what she was going to ask Fugaku. She couldn't just walk up to him after telling the Hokage that she wanted to talk to him and not say anything, that would be weird.

 _I could ask him whether me being put into the Uchiha Compound was a mistake?_ She asked herself, _if he would like me to move out of the compound, and that I'd have no problem with it?_

Deciding quickly on what she would say to him, she motioned to the door.

"Could you possibly lead me to the meeting room, Hokage-sama? I don't wish to be a burden, but I-"

"Nonsense, Sakura. You are anything but a burden." He chuckled, lightly. This was true. She was currently caring for and had befriended Naruto, a boy who he had considered family since the whisker-faced boy had been born, and had actually gotten him to open up on his own will - which the Hokage had to admit, was a first for him. "I will lead you." She nodded politely.

The Hokage sat up from his desk and held out a hand for Sakura to hold on to. Sakura pouted - she didn't need to hold his hand. She wasn't a child. Well, technically she was, but- argh, whatever. She took his hand hesitantly and he lead her out the doors and down a flight of stairs, eventually turning a corner.

Shortly after they turned the corner Sakura had felt five large chakra signatures, and had easily pinpointed where they were. The Hokage stood outside the door, where voices were coming out, muffled through the walls.

"-and you people are just so stubborn. That child of yours may be respectful, but his father certainly isn't." One voice sounded, while another scoffed.

"Danzo, your pathetic attempt to insult me is quite entertaining. My family has nothing to do with the matter, so if you wish to bring them into this then so be it, I will bring the elders into this situation aswell." A deep, baritone voice replied.

"You will do nothing of the sort, Fugaku. Your clan is the most feared, egotistical, and-"

The Hokage knocked at the door, alerting them to the presence at the door. A moment after knocking the Hokage entered, a quite bland look on his face.

"I hope everything is going on nicely here." He said, an eyebrow raised. "Because it certainly didn't sound it. What's going on?" The Hokage demanded.

A man with brown hair and half of his face bandaged - Danzo - opened his mouth to speak before another man with raven hair - Fugaku - cut him off, having spotted Sakura.

"Not in front of the child." He seethed at Danzo, looking back to Hiruzen. "We will speak to you about this issue later." Sakura's eyes fell upon Fugaku and she felt her heart stop.

He was exactly like what she had seen in her dream, except not with his head chopped off. She felt her insides churn, and suddenly felt very sick. She leaned herself over, feeling bile fill her throat, before it all spilled over, and she vomited all over the floor. All was silent for a moment, the only sound being the sound of vomit hitting the floor.

"Ah, you must not be feeling well, Sakura." Hiruzen pointed out, placing a hand on her shoulder as she was hunched over. Sakura was breathing heavily, as she rubbed her mouth and sniffed.

"S-sorry, Hokage-sama...I...I don't know why I suddenly threw up." Sakura felt her face heat up. She had thrown up in front of six of the most important figures in Konoha.

 _I bet I made an amazing first impression,_ Sakura joked internally. The Hokage just chuckled.

"It's quite alright, Sakura. Why don't you go and sit outside and get some fresh air? I'll get this cleaned up." He offered warmly, as she nodded, taking the exit, hearing mumbles as she walked away.

"Didn't realize you were that ugly, Fugaku." A lazy voice chuckled when they believed she was out of earshot.

"Silence, Nara." Fugaku seethed. "It was not..." Was all she heard before the voices faded off, as did their chakra signatures. She walked outside, taking a seat on the bench and pulling her knees up to her chest, leaning into them.

 _What am I going to do now? I can't tell anybody about it...they'll ask me how I knew about his plans and if I tell them they'll think I'm crazy...if I don't tell them how I knew they'll think I'm involved, and...if I tell them at all, Itachi may come for me, too..._ Sakura silently contemplated, hypervenilating. _Wait, didn't Itachi want to speak to me again before? Now that I'm alone-_

As if interrupting her thoughts, the bench fell a little under an additional person's weight. Sakura must have been too caught up in the moment, seeing as she hadn't sensed them. She pulled her head out of her knees and came face-to-face with the exact object of her thoughts.

"Hello." He greeted, smoothly. Sakura felt like running, and her heart was surely beating too fast to comprehend - was she about to faint? Oh, she didn't know... "I do remember you saying that if we met again, I could ask you some things, correct?" He questioned, an eyebrow raised cockily. Sakura, quelling the urge to do anything else other than reply, gulped down her fear and spoke.

"You may. It depends," She shrugged, voice slightly shaking, but nothing too noticeable. "What did you want to ask me?" Itachi took a rather long look into her jade orbs before looking away, seemingly unsatisfied in not finding whatever he was searching for.

"Can we go somewhere more..." He looked around at their open space that was full of chattering, rambunctious people, before looking back at her. "...Sequestered?" He wanted to go somewhere private?

 _'Ha, no thanks I don't really wanna die. In a bit, 'Tachi-chan,'_ is what she _wanted_ to say, however all that she gave him was a meek negative shake of her head. (P.S 'In a bit' is a shorter version of 'see you in a little bit' where I'm from.)

"Kaa-san said to never follow a predator to a second location." Sakura told him, putting on an act.

If it makes him go away, I'll act as innocent as possible. Maybe it'll put his suspicions to rest, also, Sakura told herself.

Itachi's eyebrow raised, amused.

"Oh?" He started, sounding monotone. "Didn't your mother also tell you not to talk to strangers, yet you still broke that rule?" Itachi asked her, playing along with her games. Sakura's face scrunched up in annoyance as she got up to leave him. He grabbed her wrist, firmly, determined not to let her go. "Did she not?" He reiterated. Sakura scowled at the boy.

"She trusts me to beat them up if they tried anything." She snarled, threatening the boy. He seemed serene by her words.

"Ah, but this is _Konoha -_ many people with a lot of talent were bred and raised here. Maybe your mother put a little too much trust into her offspring. ." He stated, and Sakura tensed up. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head and she grinned evilly.

"Maybe. But I have something you _don't_ have." She smiled, innocently.

"And would you care to tell me what that is?" He questioned, curious. Her grin widened ten fold as her eyes sparkled with mischeivous nature.

"Influence." She told him, quietly. Before he had a chance to ask, Sakura flailed about, squealing like a child. " _Stranger danger! Stranger danger!_ " She screamed, and Itachi's eyes narrowed.

Heads began to turn in their direction, mother's covering their mouths in shock, murmuring words to their husbands. A man with a senbon sticking out of his mouth took the most interest, as he rolled his eyes at the situation and what Itachi had done this time.

"What are you-" Itachi grunted, letting go of Sakura's hand and leaving her to crash into the ground. She got up and rubbed her eyes, acting out that she was about to cry as she sniffled.

Itachi had to admit, for a little girl, she was quite the actress. Suddenly, a local shinobi strolled up to the pair and bent down to Sakura's level, smiling.

"Hello, my name's Genma. Are you okay?" He asked nicely, Sakura gritted her teeth, determined not to give up her act just yet.

"Stranger." She whispered, her bottom lip trembling. Genma visibly shuddered, not wanted the girl to sob uncontrollably.

"N-no! I'm a good guy! I'm a _shi-no-bi_ \- do you know what that is?" Genma asked her, as Itachi watched on. "Now, what's going on here?" He asked her. Sakura sniffed, pointing at Itachi.

"He touched me against my will." She explained, and Itachi's eyes widened, as did Genma's as he eyed the Uchiha prodigy.

"She is making it sound _weird."_ Itachi quickly interjected, as Genma sighed.

Genma stood up, picking up Sakura and raising a questioning eyebrow at Itachi, who was panicking, much to Sakura's appeasement.

"If she is ' _making it sound weird_ ', that means you still did it." Genma pointed out, as Itachi blankly stared at Genma as if he'd grown another head for believing the little girl.

"Please tell me that you are joking." Itachi deadpanned, but Genma looked on at Itachi, a serious expression upon his face. Itachi sighed, running his hands along his face. "I wanted to ask her something, but she tried to walk off after telling me that I was allowed ask her. I stopped her by holding her wrist." Genma blinked a few times, before raising an eyebrow.

"What could _you_ possibly want to ask _her?"_ Genma asked, confused. He found it funny that someone was taking interest in the strange pinkette with the most strange hair he'd ever seen - and _Itachi_ of all people.

Sakura was grinning behind Genma's legs, like a little mastermind. Itachi shot her a short glare before calmly returning his gaze to Genma.

"She's friends with Sasuke. I wanted to ask her what her intentions were with him." Itachi lied, and Genma seemingly nodding in belief.

It made sense that Itachi would do that, as he had the whole ' _overprotective older brother_ ' vibe going on. Genma understood that...or maybe he just thought he did. Sakura knew otherwise.

From behind Genma's legs, her grin suddenly fell into a scowl directed at Itachi.

 _Damn him and his charms,_ she snarled inwardly, _I should pummel him now before Genma-san believes any more of his lies._

Sakura played with her hair thoughtfully.

 _And he can't hold anything against me. Technically, I_ didn't _lie. He_ was _a stranger and he_ did _touch me against my will...just maybe not as inappropriately as I made it sound..._ Sakura reassured herself.

Genma shook his head, chuckling deeply to himself in pity of the situation. How did he get himself into this situation, again? Oh, yeah, he was going to tease Itachi...

"Ok, well I think I'll be taking Sakura from your evil clutches now." Genma smiled, as Itachi visibly slumped. "Try not to grab little girls again, yeah?" He teased.

"Try not to let your overbearing pedophilic instincts kick in when you're walking her to whatever shady alley you decide to molest another innocent victim in today." Itachi retorted.

Sakura quickly shuffled a few steps away from him, a disgusted aura surrounding her. Genma shrunk under Sakura's judgmental stare.

"I-it's not like that, I swear!" Genma flailed his arms in front of him as Itachi smirked, satisfied with the reaction. Genma clucked his tongue at at Itachi, his expression turning more serious. "I'll try not to let this situation slip my tongue when I'm talking to your Otou-sama in a days time, alright, _Itachi?"_ Genma threatened, and Itachi's expression changed into one of mild fear, even though expression was something that never really was evident on his face.

Itachi frowned, his brows furrowing.

"My father is not a part of this." Itachi replied, seriously dreading whatever the outcome would be if his father were to find out. Genma's face split into a sudden grin and he chuckled, throwing an arm around Itachi.

"I'm kidding!" He laughed, ruffling the boy's hair of whom looked on with disapproval.

Sakura could only shake her head in pity.

The rest of the night had gona relatively quick - at least for Sakura. Sakura told Genma her first name, and they chit-chatted for a little while before Genma offered to take her to Ichiraku's after he'd apparently seen her there with Naruto a few times. Sakura started to question Itachi's child molester statement...He seemed to be stalking her already. They weren't even on second name bases yet. They talked about alot of things, like what she thought of Itachi, if she'd met the Nara Clan and "Oh my god, they are so lazy. I gave Shikaku some papers to do, and he sat there, stared at me, and went straight to sleep! Can you believe it!? Blah blah blah..."

Sakura was starting to question her decision in coming to Ichiraku's with him, because boy he sure did talk a lot. Not that Sakura didn't like that, it was just small talk that bothered her. She'd never really been the one to conjure up conversations that involved no information the recipient needed to know.

After saying her farewells to her saviour, she headed home, greeted Naruto, and went to bed.

* * *

Damn I must've edited this time and time again because ITACHI IS SO DAMN HARD TO WRITE. I know that 'serious' and 'sharp' might seem like an easy thing to write, but not when you've got the same character threatening a little, non-threatening pink-haired girl that's easily three years younger than him just because he has a _hunch._

So,with that being said, excuse Itachi's awful dialogue in this. I'll find a way to write him correctly, I swear.

Reviews are much appreciated! Thank you for reading 3


	9. Chapter 9

_Okay, Sakura._ Nothing _to worry about. It was just another dream_ , Sakura sang mentally, her breathing obviously uneven, staring into the mirror as she idly tapped her legs to keep herself from falling into the dreadful abyss of mindless silence.

Perhaps, it was a way of comforting herself for the inevitable events that she was sure were going to come. She threw her head into her hand, groaning.

 _Oh, who am I kidding? I don't have a plan. I don't even know if these dreams are real. Well...Maybe they are...A high possibility, I guess, But...ARGH!_ Sakura banged on her head to stop herself from freaking out.

Ah, yes, here came another mental breakdown. The morning was not a very good time for Sakura, and if you caught her on an off day, 9/10 times her miserable attitude would be due to something that had occurred in the morning. But the thing is, her problems in the morning had only been casual, normal human-being problems like; she didn't want to get up, the milk had ran out, she had no breakfast to eat, or she just generally felt like shit - not anything like _this._

Sakura looked back up to her reflection, intently focusing her eyes on herself and scrunching her nose up. How was she supposed to prevent this? Yes, she had another dream last night. And this is how it had went:

- _Start of d_ _ream_ -

 _"Even if you use your visual jutsu on Fugaku to get the clan to cooperate, what if the village doesn't change?" A familiar voice questioned, as Sakura looked a the man she had learned to be called Danzo. His bandaged face was the only thing that gave him away, because otherwise she would note him down as just another civilian. Sakura turned her head to find Shisui on the receiving end of the coversation._

 _"Hogake-sama has promised to make it change." Shisui argued, earning a frustrated grunt from Danzo._

 _"Even if Hokage-sama is satisfied, the distrust among Leaf will not fade away." Danzo retorted, earning a raised eyebrow from Shisui, who was staying as serene as possible, which Sakura found to be quite impressive having seen his overly-bubbly personality._

 _"But in time-"_

 _"None of that, Shisui. I am no fool. I can tell that you do not exactly hold a nice opinion of me." Danzo seethed, his every word dripping with metaphorical venom. Shisui stayed silent, watching Danzo with intent. "How am I to know that you won't use your Kotoamatsukami on me, aswell?" His question reverberated through his chest in a deep tone._

 _Sakura looked on in confusion. She was sure that these dreams were more than just dreams, but they just seemed so...dramatic, that she couldn't seem to wrap her head around it._

Kotoamatsukami? _Sakura had questioned, racking her brain for answers,_ I'm sure I've heard that somewhere before...

 _"I would do no such thing, Danzo-sama." Shisui defended himself, earning a non-comittal chuckle from Danzo as he gazed right into the Uchihas eyes._

 _"You're absolutely right, Shisui. You won't." Danzo grinned, and just as Shisui's eyes widened in realization that Danzo had something planned, his Sharingan had already disabled the man that had reached out to do something to him. Shisui sighed._

 _"I apologise, Danzo-sama." He said, not exactly honestly if he did say so himself. "It's just a genjutsu; you'll break out of it in a little while." And on that note, Shisui turned on his heel and began to stride away. However, Danzo had suddenly appeared in front of him, punching the Uchiha in the face and stomach - but what he did next made Sakura's stomach drop._

 _He had reached out and plucked Shisui's eye right out as if it was just a mere socket ready to be removed. She had to turn to cover her mouth and stop herself from puking, even if she knew that these events hadn't happened yet, or even if they were going to happen, for that matter. Shisui had disappeared and her scene had rippled away into one of a forest, where Itachi stood against a rock in his ANBU mask._

 _Sakura watched on, intrigued by whatever her brain was trying to show her. Shisui showed up next to Itachi and explained the situation to him as Itachi listened on in disbelief._

 _"Listen, Itachi, I need you to..." Shisui swallowed past the lump in his throat, taking a breath and continuing. "I need you to take my left eye. I think Danzo might try and take this aswell, so I'm entrusting you with my Visual Prowess." Itachi widened his eyes, but hesitantly nodded in agreement nonetheless, knowing it was their only good choice._

 _"I accept." Itachi told him, and Shisui smiled despite the pain that was turning his head inside out. Shisui took his remaining eye out and held it in front of him, where a crow swooped it up._

 _"Save the village, Itachi. Do what you have to do. I know you'll make the right choice; you're my best friend after all - my good decisions must have rubbed off on you at some point." Shisui joked, laughing dryly at his own humour. Itachi smiled through the tears that threatened to spill from his trained eyes. Shisui began taking some steps back, his feet nearing the edge of the cliff. Before Itachi realised Shisui's intentions, Shisui had already whispered his farewells. "If you're a real friend, you won't stop me." Was all his said before propelling himself backwards off of the cliff._

 _Itachi's eyes widened in realisation...unfortunately, that realisation had came too late as he reached out, narrowly missing Shisui's hand before watching him plunge towards the water helplessly._

 _"Shisui!" Itachi screamed, the tears that threatened to spill now overflowing his tearducts and pouring out._

 _-End of dream-_

It goes without saying that Sakura was extremely confused.

Sakura whined, pulling on her pink locks and banging herself, murmuring ' _stupid, stupid, stupid'_ over and over again. She thought Itachi was the _bad_ guy - so why did Shisui tell him to save the village? Just what was going on here? Why was Shisui going to use his Visual Prowess on Sasuke's father? Why did _she_ need to know of all people? She wasn't special.

"Sakura-chan? You in there?" Naruto called wearily from outside of the bathroom door. Her head shot up in the direction of the door. Could she tell him? No...no. As much as she wanted to, it wasn't him that was the problem. It was his followers - or so to say; the ANBU.

"Y-yeah, Naruto. I'm just washing my face at the minute." She lied. She heard Naruto fiddle outside for a moment for a reply before responding.

"You sure? I mean, you sounded really...hurt." He admitted, and Sakura smiled knowingly. Ah, how concerned he was. It was kind of sweet. Sakura quickly grabbed a washcloth and headed to the door, opening it. Naruto stood on the other end, caught off guard, his hands positioned behind his head. "Uh...hi." Sakura laughed.

"Yeah, Naruto. Hi." She responded, rolling her eyes at the boy. Naruto's eyes fell to the washcloth that was in her hands, mentally noting that she was washing her face. Sakura knew otherwise, however. It was the very reason she grabbed the washcloth in the first place. "Anyway, thanks for looking out for me and all, but I just poked my eye while I was scrubbing my face. It stung a little, so I guess you could say that I was hurt." She quickly made up, throwing the washcloth away to be rid of it. She'd gotten her point across.

"Oh...That makes sense." Naruto smiled, and they stood in silence before Naruto coughed awkwardly and pointed in the bathroom. "Not to rush you or anything, Sakura-chan...But my ass is gonna explode."

"Oh, sorry." She apologised, ignoring his beautiful choice of vocabulary, moving out of the doorway so he could squeeze into the bathroom. She made her way to the living room, where she found Kakashi laying on the couch.

"You're _back?"_ She asked, almost as if she was repulsed. Kakashi sniffed mockingly, pretending to wipe a tear away from his visible eye.

"I didn't know you felt this way about me." He said sadly, crossing his arms. "I took a liking to you kids, and _this_ is how you repay my kindness?" Sakura grinned, almost giggling.

"Ah, so you _like_ us?" She reiterated, and Kakashi's narrowed eyes told Sakura that he had realised his blunder. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"Maybe." He shrugged, and Sakura smirked lightly, shaking her head. Her smile quickly fell.

 _I still have to do something about that,_ She told herself, mentally noting her previous dreams. _I'll go and speak to Shisui...maybe I can ask about the Kotoamatsukami and see how he reacts to it._

Sakura almost chuckled to herself. Despite the horrendous positions she finds herself in almost all of the time, she seemed to have a tendency of running over plans in her head. Maybe those dreams _weren't_ visions or whatever - maybe they _aren't_ going to happen. But she knew one thing that was definitely was going to happen - as soon as Haname comes to visit her, Sakura would ask her about the dreams. She could trust Haname and whatever response the woman would conjure up and give to Sakura.

Sakura turned her head slightly to peak at Kakashi and found that he was lazily sat on the couch, his hands positioned behind is head without a care in the world. His eyes suddenly met hers, and Sakura's mouth formed a straight line. He was obviously waiting for her to say something.

"Ne, Hatake-san?" She asked, as he hummed a questioning reply. "I'd like to ask you something." He looked confused for a millisecond, before he nodded.

"Ask then." He demanded, and she cleared her throat, searching for the right words as she fiddled with some of her hair.

"Do you know someone called Danzo?" She asked, and the tension in the air was suddenly very thick, and Sakura felt like she was choking. Kakashi obviously noticed, and withdrew whatever the hell that was, and she suddenly felt like she could breathe again.

"Sorry, Sakura." Kakashi apologised, and Sakura's eyes widened.

 _Was that his... killing intent?_ She questioned, wondering what on Earth had set him off.

His eyes screamed seriousness, and Sakura coughed awkwardly.

"Well, _do_ you?" She asked again, and Kakashi closed his book to direct his attention to the girl.

"Why do you ask?" He questioned, almost suspiciously. Sakura decided that she should be atleast a little truthful with him.

"I think I saw him yesterday. I just wanted to know who he was." She told him innocently, and Kakashi relaxed a little.

"One of the village elders." He replied, and Sakura nodded.

"What does he have against the Uchihas?" She asked, and Kakashi almost fell off the couch in surprise.

"Why are you asking me this?" He growled, and Sakura just met his glare head-on.

"You're making it seem as if I've asked you something wrong." She growled back, and crossed her arms. "I heard him fighting with the Uchiha clan head, and he said some very uncivil things about the Uchihas. Personally, I think that he is a very brash person. I don't like him. I don't think Hokage-sama does, either." Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the pinkette.

"Danzo-sama does what is right for the village." He defended, earning a rather questionable look from Sakura. "The Third's views of him are very warped. I think he is not fit to rule." Sakura's mouth hung open in disbelief.

"Saying that is _treason!"_ She whispered in a hushed voice. "You could get thrown into jail for going against your Hokage!"

"Voicing my opinions about him is not _treason._ It is called free speech." He responded, as the girl pointed accusingly at him, ready to say something, before Naruto walked in, a scowl adorning his face.

"What you got against the old man, eh?" He asked, grumpily. Kakashi looked on at the boy, frowning.

"Why would I tell you? You're pretty much his grandchild." Kakashi shrugged, and Naruto huffed in annoyance, his fists clenched.

 _"Exactly!_ So I don't think he would like it if I told him what you just said!" Naruto exclaimed, ready to pounce on the masked man. Kakashi frowned underneath his mask.

"You wouldn't." He challenged, and Naruto grinned evily. Oh, how Kakashi _shouldn't_ have said that.

"You wanna bet, grandad?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes and pursing his lips at the silver-haired man.

"Grandad? I'm only twelve years your senior." Kakashi scoffed, as Naruto crossed his arms tenaciously.

"Yeah, like I said: _grandad."_ He reiterated, as Kakashi scowled. "Look, you've even got grey hair." Naruto joked, reaching out to tug at Kakashi's locks. Kakashi stepped back, making himself taller so that Naruto couldn't reach his hair.

"It's not grey. It's _silver._ I was _born_ with it, brat." Kakashi told Naruto, looking a little conscious about his hair, now.

"Same thing." Naruto bellowed, waving his hands out in front of him obnoxiously. "You've got weird hair if _that's_ the case, grandad." Sakura looked a little offended, and Kakashi caught on, meeting her gaze and looking back to Naruto.

"Sakura doesn't exactly have normal hair, either. Are you calling her weird, too?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, and Naruto's eyes shot open, and he flushed a little at his mistake.

"No! I _love_ Sakura's hair!" He shouted, turning to Sakura with pleading eyes. "I do, I swear! It's exotic - I like the colour!" He panicked, searching for compliments. Sakura giggled.

"It's fine, Naruto. Really." She told him, and he relaxed a little, letting out a sigh of relief. He turned back to Kakashi, his eyes steeled over a little.

"Now, let's talk about what you said about my old man." Naruto threatened, and Kakashi looked on with indifference. "Should I tell him or not?" Naruto asked, his expression fell a little teasing, as Kakashi's scowl fell deeper.

"Do what you want." Kakashi shrugged, and Naruto wagged a finger in his face.

"Ah-ah-ah, don't lie. I know you care, so don't act like you don't!" Naruto accused, as Kakashi looked towards the open door with temptation.

It seemed that the temptation had won him over.

"Goodbye." Kakashi deadpanned, walking straight out of the door, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone.

Sakura looked to Naruto, who was staring at the door with a conflicted expression on his face. He was trying to figure out something.

"You alright, Naruto?" Sakura asked, and Naruto quickly snapped his head towards her, the dazed look on his face disappearing.

"Hm? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine." He shrugged, rubbing his nape in means of comfort. "I just can't tell if he was joking or not. Didn't seem like it, but he's a bit of a puzzle to me." Naruto admitted, rolling his eyes.

"Are you gonna tell the Hokage?" Sakura asked, going to close the door that Kakashi had generously left open. Naruto chuckled a little and shook his head.

"Nah, I'll let him do what he wants. The old man will find out himself eventfully." Naruto shrugged, earning a smirk from Sakura.

"I think you mean _'eventually'."_ She corrected, and Naruto's flush returned. He folded his arms, holding his ground.

"Same thing, aren't they?" He asked. And Sakura could only shake her head in response, amused. "Oh, whatever. Hey, wanna go to the park?" She simply nodded in response.

{With Danzo}

"So, Hatake, what did you find out about her so far?" Danzo asked the silver-haired ROOT member, leaning back into his chair. "Will she be a threat to our progress?"

He had originally sent Kakashi out to watch the ' _demon boy_ ', as he liked to call Naruto, but once he had heard of the strange pinkette, his interest had piqued. The Uchihas were getting on his nerves with their devilish ways, and he had needed something to take his mind off of them. Especially Fugaku.

"She knows about your dislike of the Uchiha." He stated simply, and Danzo didn't seem surprised. He didn't seem to notice Kakashi's subtle prevarication.

"Does she, now?" He asked, rhetorically. He already knew the answer - she must have heard the argument between Fugaku and him a day prior, when she was with the Hokage. Danzo frowned. What had she even come for, anyway? "As it would be. She heard me and Fugaku...exchanging _words,_ before." Kakashi nodded in understanding.

"I spoke to her a few nights ago. We talked about the blond kid." Kakashi explained simply, referring to Naruto. "She seems awfully fond of him. However, they only met a few days ago, if my memory serves correctly, so she shouldn't be an issue." Danzo quirked an eyebrow at Kakashi.

"What did you say to her?" Danzo asked him, leaning forward in his chair to lock his gaze with Kakashi. Kakashi, after spending a lot of time with him, had started to notice that he did this when something had captured his attention. Which, in other words, was something Danzo took interest in.

"I asked her..." Kakashi stopped. For some reason, he felt obligated to protect the little girl.

He froze. Weren't these emotions exactly what he was trying to get _rid_ of when he joined ROOT? But, still...She hadn't done anything wrong. Maybe, just maybe, Danzo was being a bit too brash on sending him on a mission to spy on her? In Danzo's words, it would be 'I'm merely looking out for the child.' however, Kakashi thought differently. He frowned. Of course Danzo wouldn't pass up an opportunity after Kakashi had reported to him on his first night of watching over her- no, watching over _Naruto,_ and how he'd explained her talent to him. Reminiscing, Kakashi could vividly remember the look of pure determination in Danzo's eyes, like he _needed_ her.

Kakashi had first been looking over Naruto when the pink-haired girl showed up. Him and the other ROOT on the scene had exchanged the oddest of looks when the girl had glided right over to him, dealt with his bullies, and befriended him. It was somehow quite laughable. Danzo, of course, jumped on the bandwagon and asked Kakashi to do _'overtime'_ and watch over the girl a little longer. It wasn't that he didn't trust Danzo, because of course he did. It was just that he didn't want someone as young as her to be thrown onto the battlefield so early and witness the horrors of war. If he could prevent another _young Kakashi_ , he would.

"What? _What_ did you ask?" Danzo asked, a little annoyed that Kakashi had cut himself off. Kakashi shook his head, dismissively and gazed at Danzo.

"I just asked her what she thought of Naruto." He lied. Danzo looked a little dissapointed with Kakashi's choice of words; he was normally so much more detailed when reporting to him. "She said that she really liked him, and that if anyone was to come near him she would kill them." He 'relayed'. Danzo's eyes visibly widened a fraction. Okay. He wasn't exactly expecting her to make such threats.

"She said that?" Danzo questioned, as if to say he didn't believe that someone so innocent-looking would make such violent declarations. Kakashi nodded. He wasn't lying, just...improvising. Or maybe he was, and he was just trying to convince himself otherwise. Anyone would re-evaluate a few things if they decided to go against their commanding officer, even going as far as to hide crucial details from them. He had to admit, though; it did sound like a very Sakura-like thing to say. "Did she aim this at anyone in particular?"

"...His bullies." Kakashi hesitated. Danzo narrowed his eyes - since when had Kakashi been so nervous giving reports? Danzo sighed. Nevertheless, his statement did sound believable.

Normally, Kakashi would not take time to answer a question unless he was thinking up a detailed way to answer it, so for him to say a two-worded answer to Danzo's question after about ten seconds of staring blankly at him, was quite unusual indeed.

"Aa. Thank you, Hatake." Danzo nodded, not really satisfied, but close enough. Kakashi nodded back, politely. "I'll expect you to trail her again tomorrow. This time I want a detailed report." The insinuation is his voice was easily noticed by Kakashi, who nodded a bit stiffer and slower this time.

"Of course." Kakashi replied, to which Danzo clasped his hands together in front of him.

"You are dismissed." Danzo finally told him, as Kakashi nodded, turning on his heel and striding out of the door.

* * *

Wow, I didn't realise that even _Kakashi_ is hard to write sometimes. If you can give me some tips on writing a good current-ROOT Kakashi that is ultimately trying to stop a little girl and boy from getting absolutely _molested_ by Danzo's organisation, that would be great.

Reviews are appreciated, thank you for reading and I hope I didn't bore the shit out of you. 3


	10. Chapter 10

It was midnight, and Sakura was currently scaling the roofs of Konoha, no actual goal in mind. She hummed quietly to herself as she jumped around. She could call this training, she guessed, but she really just did this because she likes night walks.

Sakura inhaled, the fresh midnight air filling her lungs as she breathed freely. She was convinced that during the day, the air was different. That, or maybe it was just the temperature. The aura was what dragged her in, though, as well as the stars. She looked up slowly and smiled.

 _The stars are always so beautiful,_ she mused to no one in particular, laying down on top of the worn-down roof that lay on a seemingly abandoned house. She put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes. _I wonder what Tou-san and Kaa-san are doing,_ she sighed.

Sakura made to stand up, before her dress was caught on a branch that was sticking out of the dishevelled house.

 _"Go figure..."_ She muttered under her breath in irritance, pulling her dress free, which undoubtedly ripped it. She groaned in annoyance, before suddenly perking up. Her red dress wasn't very practical, as even Haname had told her before, so maybe it was time for an outfit change.

Sakura hopped from roof to roof towards a clothes shop that she had seen when she was out-an-about with Genma that one time. She landed neatly in front of it, the wind blowing her pink locks over her shoulders. She frowned slightly at the 'Closed' sign that hung above the door.

 _Well, of course it's closed...What shop would be open at midnight?_ She quietly rolled her eyes before heading back to the house.

Sakura opened the door, silently expecting an exuberent blonde to shout _"Sakura-chan!"_ and tackle her into a hug as soon as she made an appearance, however, the house was silent. She felt around the house walls for a second before her hand finally rested atop the light switch, which she turned on with a hesitant click.

She could feel Naruto's slumbering chakra, and gently smiled to herself. She was glad that she had a part to play in his life, and that she had a chance to improve his social status. The way the villagers treated him was simply horrid. Sasuke would help him, too. Willingly or unwillingly, because Sakura would _make_ him.

Sakura's vibrant jade orbs rested on the giant tear in her dress, and she huffed. Making her way to her room, she slide open her drawer and pulled out a scroll that her father and mother had given her. She realised that, actually, she didn't know what they had put into the scroll. Her eyes fell on bold writing at the top that read: _'We know that your current outfit isn't exactly very easy to move in, as Haname has told us. So, luckily for you, your loving parents (And something from Haname) have packed you an outfit we think you'd love. Love you!'_ Sakura laughed softly to herself before she pulled the dress from the scroll.

She openly gaped. It was _very_ beautiful, she had to admit. But the practicality was amazing, aswell! A pair of gloves and shoes, or extended sandals, she might say, were also given with it. (If you want to see what the outfit looks like, the link is at the end.) The dress was green with distinct markings on them, and a love heart on the chest. A jade cape was also attatched to it, but the jeweled collar at the neck of the dress also acted as a clip, meaning the cape could be removed. Needless to say, Sakura was very happy with her outfit.

She slipped on the gloves first, and the first thing she noticed was the flexibility of them. She then slipped on the dress with the cape, and noted that she should probably put some shorts on underneath, which she then did. Something felt strange on her back, though. She twirled around, and surely enough her cape danced with her too. However, her cape felt off, like it had something inside.

 _'Wha...?'_ She reached for her cape, and she felt a strong surge of energy radiate from it. Her brow furrowed. She was sure Haname had told her something about this before.

 _"Hey Onee-chan, let's spar!" A young, very squeaky Sakura exclaimed, as Haname only chuckled._

 _"Okay, Okay, Saku-chan..." Haname replied, rolling her eyes at the younger girl. She slipped on her red cape, and got in a fighting stance._

 _Somewhere along the line in the spar, Sakura had gone to grab Haname's cape, before she squealed in pain and pulled her hand back. Haname had paused the match due to Sakura's injury._

 _"Onee-chan, what was_ that?" _Sakura asked, surprised, cradling her hand. Sakura looked down. Her hand had felt like it had been burned, but no visible marks were adorning it._

 _"Oh, my cape?" Haname asked, and Sakura nodded. Haname cleared her throat, searching for the right explanation. "Um...I guess you could say...It's like a seal, really. It gives an advantage in battle. With a cape, you'd think it's quite stupid to wear as your opponent can grab it, but as you have just witnessed...that it not the case. It stores chakra inside of it, meaning that if you ever run out, your cape's chakra will flow into you. The burning is just the chakra fending you off; it won't hurt the wearer, see?" As if to prove a point, Haname grabbed her cape, unharmed._

 _"So it's got chakra in, but you can't grab it?" Sakura asked, a little bemused by Haname's knowledge. Haname shook her head._

 _"You can grab it, but it will hurt alot. If you make a quick swipe at it, it will stay locked in place by the collar anyway. The point of the cape is not to accessorise or to defend. If the cape's function was to defend, it would only be defending the cape, being pretty useless seeing as ninja have no care about looks." Haname explained to Sakura, who was listening intently. "So the cape's function is basically to store chakra. The whole point of it being a cape is that the enemy won't realise where you are getting excess chakra from; as a cape is the last place you would expect a seal to be locked on." Haname finished, as Sakura's eyes twinkled._

 _"Oooh, that's cool!" Sakura complimented gleefully, and then she jabbed a thumb into her small chest. "When can I get one?" She asked enthusiastically. Haname laughed, ruffling her hair._

 _"When you're old enough to understand seals you'll get one, promise." Haname smiled, as Sakura looked a little crestfallen, but otherwise determined to learn seals more quicker now._

 _Oh, yeah, I remember!_ Sakura grinned, as she grabbed her cape, inspecting it. The surge of energy quickly fell to a warm, soothing touch as she watched on in appeasement. Oh how she had so wanted one of these before. _I_ _finally got one, hell yeah!_ Sakura said, punching the air.

She slipped on her shoes, finally, and inspected herself in the mirror. She convinced herself that she was not being an egoist in the slightest when she admitted that her outfit looked flawless; because it really did. Nodding to herself, she readied for bed and jumped in.

- _Start of dream-_

" _Hey, Sakura-channnn~" A playful voice chuckled, and Sakura groaned. She got up from her spot on the floor and rubbed her eyes, yawning. Had she been asleep? She looked around, noting that she was in a field, before looking to Naruto and froze._

What the _fuck_ is that. _Sakura deadpanned to herself, her frightened eyes laying on the beast that dared lay so casually behind Naruto._

 _A fox, she presumed, but a colossal one at that. It opened one sleeping eye to look at her, and for some reason looked a little surprised that she was looking at him. His nine tails flailed dangerously behind him, but they seemed to relax when Naruto began speaking again._

 _"Sakura-chan?" He tilted his head, noting her inability to speak or move, her eyes focused on something behind him. "What's wrong? Is someone with us?" And with that, Naruto whirled around, looking for someone behind him. He did not stir at the gigantic thing that was sat in front of him._

 _"H-how do you not...see it?" She asked, her voice breaking slightly in fear. Naruto raised an eyebrow. He just sat there, staring at the foot of the monster behind him, seemingly oblivious to it all._

 _"What?" He insisted, putting a hand above his eyes and looking around more. "I don't see anyone, Sakura-chan!" The fox grinned at Sakura, his sharp teeth bared._

 _"But it's- it's right...there..." Sakura was close to hypervenilating, her feet rooted to the spot in fear that if she moved, it would just crush Naruto like a bug._

 _Naruto huffed stubbornly, crossing his arms and turning back around to face Sakura. His arms landed on his hips, and he frowned slightly. The giant did not move, only chuckled, a deep sound that reverberated throughout the entire field, the ground even shaking a little. Naruto seemed unphased to it all._

 _"Are you tricking me, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, an eyebrow raised skeptically at her. Her gaze did not drop from the massive fox, however. Sakura was just about to respond to the blonde boy that was practically drowning in his own blissful naivety, before the thing behind him opened its mouth._

 _ **"Speak,** **mortal. What is your association with Naruto?** " It demanded in a deep voice, and she quickly relaxed her stance, attempting to converse with it._

 _"He is my friend." She simply responded, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. It raised a large eyebrow in question at her. "Who are_ you?" _The Kyuubi laughed; no one had dared to take such tone with him ever since that red-haired Uzumaki woman._

 _Kurama snarled - Kushina always had been a very defiant one, hadn't she?_

 _" **I am the nine-tailed Kyuubu. My name is Kurama**." His deep voice responded. She looked back to Naruto to see if he had heard any of that, but he was just said on the floor, playing with the grass gleefully, without a care in the world. " **Now, it is my turn to ask questions. Who are you?** " Sakura stiffened. She had heard legends of a monster wreaking havoc on Konoha seven years ago...this was him?_

 _"Sakura Haruno." She responded with ease. Kurama looked in thought for a second._

 _" **Haruno...Where have I heard that before?** " He mulled in thought, tapping his chin, before his grin widened. " **You're the clan that changed their name to avoid detection, aren't you?** " He asked, almost accusingly. Sakura's expression took a bemused state, as she onced-over the Kyuubi._

 _"What are you talking about? We didn't change our name." She defended, sounding very confident in her beliefs. Kurama merely laughed at her._

 _" **They really haven't told you anything, have they?** " Kurama asked, and Sakura just looked on in confusion. " **Normally, I would use this conversation to take away a foolish young girl's silly views about her clan, but that is out of the question**." He dragged on, muttering. Sakura didn't question why he wasn't able to tell her._

 _"How would_ you _know anything about my clan?" She growled out through gritted teeth, convinced that he didn't know what he was talking about. Kurama laughed again, a sound that was coming to irritate the young girl._

 _ **"I have been alive for more than 1000 years, foolish mortal. I have my fair share of knowledge."** He explained. " **The Hokage and whoever dwells in Konoha now no doubt has no idea of your little 'Haruno' clan. You should be happy he doesn't, either. That man is old, but he's not old enough to remember the day when those dreaded Otsuts-"** He cut himself off quickly, shaking his head._

 _"What? The day when what?" She pressed on, her eyes narrowing. His claw suddenly wrapped around her, picking her up to his eye level._

 _" **You will find out when you do, brat. But listen closely. You are not to tell anyone of this encounter, because if you do** ," His eyes narrowed into slits, threateningly. " **Then I will break out of Naruto and enact the revenge I deserve.** " Sakura's heart dropped._

 _"Break out of Naruto? What do you mean? What does Naruto have to do with-?"_

 _" **Naruto is my host - he is a jinchuuriki. He is my vessel...unfortunately."** He explained simply, closing his eyes as he heaved out a loud sigh. " **Why am I telling you this, you may ask? Well; you are...different. Even I can admit to that - and I am not very fond of you mortals, to say the least. I know that you have noticed the ominous feeling in his chakra. That's me."**_

 _"Like that time with Ami's older brother? When his chakra felt like it was burning?" The Kyuubi nodded. Sakura looked him up and down, before Kurama finally set her down._

If he's telling the truth...Why is he inside Naruto _? Sakura mulled. The Kyuubi hummed, opening it's mouth to continue._

 _" **I'm sure you've heard the time I almost destroyed this pathetic village...If it wasn't for the Hokage at the time, I would've done so, aswell."** The Kyuubi growled in frustration, slamming his hand down on the floor. " **His parents sealed me into this disgusting human. In exchange for their lives, of course..** **."** An insane grin made its way onto his face._

 _"How could you-"_

 _" **I'm inside your head, human. This is a dream, so I am able to hear your thoughts**."_

Ah. So it _isn't_ real. Well, at least I can give him a piece of my mind, right _? She joked inwardly, momentarily forgetting the fox's ability to hear her._ Ha, a piece of my mind... _She grinned. He snarled, his back arched._

 _ **"It**_ **i** **s** _ **real**." He growled, he stood up to his full height, towering over Sakura as the field seemingly faded away, being replaced by a large cell. He pulled and pulled at the bars, to no avail, before he resorted to meaninglessly pounding and shaking them. " **I AM THE KYUUBI! I HAVE KILLED MY PREVIOUS HOST**_ **AN** **D** _ **YOUR TENACIOUS HOKAGE! I**_ **W** **ILL** _ **BREAK OUT AND I**_ **WI** **LL** _ **KILL NARUTO! FEAR ME, YOU MORTAL!** " Sakura took a step back, a mild frown adorning her features. She shouldn't be scared. Like he said, it was only a_ dream.

 _"Naruto didn't_ choose _to be your vessel." She told him, defending the boy she had come to like dearly. "I don't believe he even knows_ _about you_ now. _You should cut him some slack, Kurama. He didn't do anything to you consciously." The Kyuubi froze for a second, eyeing the tiny girl in front of him. A snarl erupted from the Kyuubi's throat and he suddenly started glowing, orange flames bursting from his body. He heat from the flames melted the bars, and nothing stood in between those two anymore._

 _However, Sakura didn't feel scared in the slightest. She was actually quite itching to have an argument with this fox who claimed he knew everything and insinuated that he had lived through it all, but couldn't tell humans from good and bad._

 _ **"That brat is the only reason I'm stuck in this god-forbidden jail**." He growled, and Sakura tilted her head a little, meeting his fierce gaze with her own._

 _"I don't think he even knows about you, though. How can you blame him for something he doesn't even know he's doing?" She asked him, a look of desperation making its way onto her porcelain face. Kurama closed his eyes, gritting his sharp teeth. He was silent for a moment, complating what to say in response. "You've had seven years to get to know Naruto, and you still think he is only an obstacle holding you back? He had no parents growing up, Kurama. You killed them." Kurama's grin etched its way back onto his face again._

 _" **They tried to kill me. I merely wanted to survive**." He defended, and Sakura shook her head in disagreement._

 _"No. You attacked the village. They attacked you to save the lives of their people." Sakura's eyes clamped shut, and she was trying hard not to cry. "Naruto is the kindest person I know, and yet he had no parental figures to teach him morals. He didn't know what was socially acceptable, he just assumed that people didn't like him because he was doing something wrong. He didn't know that you were the reason people called him a monster. If anything, he suffered more than you did." The Kyuubi was silent, and a wave of short guilt washed over his orange face, before it was gone as quickly as it had appeared._

 _" **You really like that brat, huh?** " He asked, almost sounding betrayed. Sakura chuckled, nodding. How could she not?_

 _"He hasn't given me a reason to dislike him." She replied, shrugging. Sakura gently smiled, even as Kurama continued to scowl at her determination to change his perspective of the young blond._

 _" **What about me?"** Kurama snarled, walking towards her, slamming his feet as he walked. He threw his feet down roughly into the ground next to her, twisting and churning, attempting to scare her. Sakura did not move. " **How do you feel about him now that you know a beast dwells inside him? How do you feel about him now that you know he could snap at any moment and I could come out and kill you all? Shouldn't you stay far away from him now that you know a monster like me resides within Naruto?** " Kurama was towering over her, attempting to gauge the girl's reaction. She simply shrugged._

 _"You're not all that scary, you know." She told him, not in a friendly way, of course, because she still had to keep in mind that he had killed a lot of people. He seemed surprised, taking offense and leaning back. "Just promise me one thing, please." She pleaded._

 _Kurama raised an eyebrow. The mortal wanted him to promise her something? Was she mad? Didn't she realise that he was a literal killing machine, and had attacked this village?_

 _" **I do not make promises**." He snarled in return, and she frowned a little. " **Especially to**_ **hum** **ans.** " _She seemed to stay silent for a moment, before speaking once more._

 _"How about a deal, then?" She asked him, and she seemed to capture his interest as the large monster tilted his head in confusion. "Give it a few years. If your views on Naruto have not changed in a positive way by then, I will...cut my ties with him." Kurama winced. She was very confident._

 _" **Hmph. What do you get if you win the bet**?" He asked, before snarling. " **In no way am I stating you have a chance, so don't even bother thinking about it."** He quickly clarified._

 _"Um...I don't ask for much. Only for you to be patient with him and see Naruto for who he is rather than the person you're stuck inside." Sakura shrugged, smiling warmly. "Also, you can cut the crap about you hating humans. Your discrimination won't get you anywhere." The Kyuubi feigned hurt for a minute before huffing roughly. "One more thing," She added hesitantly, her expression darkening. "Don't hurt Naruto in any way, shape or form. If he is in danger, help him. If he dies, you die. Right? That's how vessels work, don't they? So keep. Him. Alive."_

 _Kurama sneered - oh how much this little girl reminded him of that stubborn Uzumaki woman. The resemblance was genuinely terrifying._

 _He seemed satisfied, though, as he held out his paw for her to touch. She complied, and a scroll suddenly appeared in front of her. She was took by surprise for a second, before his deep voice carried her away from all impending thoughts that she had._

 _ **"We have a deal, mortal."** He agreed, grinning half-heartedly. She signed the contract, before it evaporated into thin air. **"I have got to say, human, you have not failed to surprise me."**_

 _"I will take that as a compliment." She replied, grinning. He smirked at the seven-year-old prodigy._

 _ **"Take it however you will, but I must bring to your attention that,"** Kurama motioned towards Sakura, who looked down and noticed she was slowly fading. " **It seems our time limit has long since passed."**_

 _"A-ah...What's going on?" She asked, looking down towards her slowly disintergrating feet._

 _" **You're waking up.** " He told her simply. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise._

 _"Wait, before I go-!" She choked out, rushing through her words. "Tell me again, are these dreams more than just dreams?"_

 _Kurama stared blankly at her, before his mouth split into a knowing grin._

That was all the confirmation Sakura needed, before she shot up in bed, awake.

A brief idea crossed her mind, and Sakura quietly got out of bed and made her way to Naruto's room. Making sure to conceal her footsteps, she quietly slipped in to observe the sleeping boy.

"Kurama," She whispered, making sure not to wake Naruto himself. "If...If you're real, I-I'd like you to flare your chakra." Sakura stood in silence for a few seconds, not expecting anything to happen before a foreign chakra flooded her senses. She widened her eyes, realising it was the same chakra that she had sensed before; or to put it simply - The Kyuubi.

'So, he really is real...' She mulled in thought, and quietly laughed to herself.

"I'll be looking forward to how our deal turns out." She joked, and felt the chakra relax in response. On that note, she slipped out of Naruto's room and into the kitchen.

Bearing in mind it was only four am, Sakura was still hungry. When Sakura was hungry, she was going to eat, regardless of time. After having a quick bowl of cereal - and no she did not care what anyone thought about having cereal at four am - she fell back to sleep in her bed, to be met with only a short dream; but a very, very important, detailed dream at that.

 _-Start of dream-_

 _"Itachi." The Hokage called, his eyes closed and voice soft. Itachi looked up, his head nodding a little, tears streaming down his face._

 _"But, please- there- there has to be another way. I beg you." Itachi pleaded, not convinced in the slightest bit at whatever the Hokage had just said._

 _Sakura watched on intently - she had learned that saying or doing anything wouldn't make a difference, so she should just sit and watch as the dream, or vision, she might say, carried itself out. The Hokage sighed, although he was clearly upset aswell._

 _"I know, Itachi. The elders do not have more power over me, however when the whole council agrees, I have no choice but to accept. You have done a good job telling us about the Uchiha uprising and plan to overthrow the government," Sakura gaped. The Uchiha were attempting to overthrow the Hokage? "However, Danzo has ordered for the total slaughtering of the Uchiha. I simply cannot go against his word when he has the backing that he currently has."_

 _"Please- I just- one person. I only want to save one person. And then I will be content." Itachi winced at the pain in his chest, as the Hokage sighed._

 _"I...maybe I could change the order a little. Who is it you would like to save?" The Hokage asked, although he had a feeling he knew already._

 _"I wish for Sasuke's safety." The Hokage's assumptions were confirmed. "In exchange for this, I will...I will kill them myself and defect Konoha." The Hokage's eyes widened._

 _"You are aware that the council would have no choice but to declare you a missing nin after that, no?" The Hokage asked, as Itachi slowly nodded in response, his silky hair framing his face._

 _"That is a risk I am willing to take." Itachi admitted. "When I leave Konoha, all I ask for are progress reports on my otouto, so I can keep an eye on how he is doing." The Hokage silently contemplated this for a second, before nodding his head in agreement._

 _"I accept your proposal, Itachi. But...this while be horrible for you. Are you sure you wish to-?"_

 _"I am. As long as I can save him. Danzo was planning to kill me in the slaughter anyway, was he not?" Itachi asked, and the Hokage sighed in defeat._

 _"Okay, Itachi." Hiruzen nodded sadly. "Thank you for your loyalty towards Konoha. You will not be forgotten."_

-End of Dream-

And with that, the world faded black.

* * *

What do you think? I just wanted Sakura to have an outfit change with a little flashback. I dunno...I thought it was cool, but I always love to hear your opinions. Constructive criticism is always welcome! I don't take offense to it in the slightest.

As for the outfit, the link is: s: / / www .pinterest . co . uk /pin/409264684866431988/?%24ios_deeplink_path=pinterest%3A%2F%2Fpin%2F409264684866431988&%24android_deeplink_path=pinterest%3A%2F%2Fpin%2F409264684866431988&_client_id=mZLr_Z69vq5q7CW_Uco35Qj9gcYlkW-WFTioe0tTGEdwJ3boCjqJyJ4kvXibJsH8&utm_source=168&utm_medium=2160¤t_page_url=https%3A%2F% .com%2Famp%2Fpin%2F409264684866431988%2F&install_id=e356f06cf687db894293152ebaf7362b&%24fallback_url=https%3A%2F% .com%2Fpin%2F409264684866431988%2F&_branch_match_id=483308855672781154

(Remove the spaces from the start and add http to the start and you should get it)

I think it's pretty obvious why I didn't post it mid-story...All credit to the artist!


	11. Chapter 11

Sakura had a lot to think about when she got up. A feeling that swelled up inside of her chest was mainly one of understanding; but also one of guilt after she realised that she had treated Itachi as the bad guy. She thought she had the whole thing figured out.

 _So, the Uchiha were planning an uprising and Itachi had told the Hokage. Shisui wanted to use his visual jutsu to get Fugaku to co-operate, but Danzo disagreed, and that is where Shisui's death occured. Danzo ordered for the entire Uchiha clan to be assassinated, but Itachi did it himself to in order to save Sasuke,_ Sakura relayed in her head. _Itachi...you...you saved Sasuke by sacrificing yourself. And I had treated you horribly...I'm so, so sorry._ She capitulated to the guilt she felt and stared out into the meaningful blue sky, thinking of everything and nothing at the same time.

{An hour later}

"Bullseye... _again."_ Sakura muttered with a roll of her eyes, getting bored with the amount of times she had proved her perfect aim to herself. It was 6 am, and she was practicing her kunai-throwing in the back garden of her and Naruto's place.

Sakura threw another kunai. Another bullseye. She yawned, covering her mouth as her eyes shot lazily around at her surroundings. Sakura rubbed her viridian eyes, before going to retrieve the kunai. Her head turned slightly towards the door as she felt a familiar chakra approaching- wait, no. Make that two familiar signatures approaching.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! Sasuke-teme's here-Oh, did you change your outfit!? It looks super cute!" Naruto exclaimed with a flustered grin after swinging open the door to the outside. Sakura smiled at him before continuing to pull kunai out of the multiple targets.

"Thanks, Naruto. Hi, Sasuke." She nodded in greeting to the raven-haired Uchiha that was stood behind the blonde. It was only a matter of time before he found their apartment, seeing as they _were_ in his compound, after all.

"Hey, Sakura. Yeah, I think your clothes look nice too." He greeted, grinning in reply. He pushed past Naruto, who was now muttering about manners, and came to inspect Sakura's targets. "Did you throw all of these?"

"Thanks, and yeah. I was just practicing my aim a little." She explained, before inclining her head towards the multiple targets. "Wanna try?" She asked, offering him a kunai. He took it without hesitation, grinning gleefully.

"Aniki _never_ lets me throw _his_ kunai. He's such a drag sometimes. But- he's still super cool, so I guess it's okay." Sasuke said, quickly rushing to defend his brother. Sakura wondered when that obvious idolisation of his big brother would slowly turn into jealousy as he grew older and more prideful of himself. He sucked in a breath, extending his arm out and launching the kunai towards the target. Sakura watched the kunai fly through the air with trained eyes, right up until it hit only the third ring. Sasuke frowned in disappointment. "Damn it." Sasuke took another two kunai from Sakura.

"Jeez, Sasuke- your aim is _terrible!"_ Naruto taunted, snatching the remaining two kunai out of Sasuke's hand and smiling smugly. "Watch _this-!"_ Naruto proceeded to throw his kunai...straight into the dirt. Sasuke snorted.

"Dobe, you didn't even _hit_ the target." Sasuke insulted, as Naruto gritted his teeth, growling.

"Oh yeah!? Well, I'll hit my target _this_ time!" Naruto shouted, throwing his kunai, aiming for Sasuke's head.

Sakura's eyes widened as she stepped inbetween the two and caught the kunai mid-air.

 _"Naruto!"_ She hissed, as he was stood there, mouth agape. "You could've seriously hurt him!" Sakura berated. Naruto's hands flew to his face.

"I'm so, so sorry, Sasuke-teme! I didn't actually mean to let _go_ of it!" He panicked, fumbling over his words as he stared at them with shocked eyes. As far as Sakura could tell, he was telling the truth. "I was only going to _scare_ you!"

"Yeah right, Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke retorted after recovering from his shock. "You almost _killed_ me!" He screamed, fuming.

"Now, now, what's going on here?" A cheerful voice cut in. Sakura turned to him, a little surprised at not sensing him. Shisui was stood, perched on a fence nearby.

 _Why are these Uchiha so hard to sense?_ She muttered internally, her eyes narrowing at the boy.

 _"He almost killed me with a flying kunai!"_ Sasuke repeated, throwing his hands out for dramatic effect. Naruto shook his head rapidly in an attempt to explain himself.

"It was an _accident!"_ He told Shisui, his hands outstretched and clawing the air in front of him. "It really was, I _swear!"_

Shisui hopped off the fence, walking towards them. His eyes landing on Naruto and when he finally reached him, he brought his hand up. Naruto paled, thinking Shisui was about to hit him just like they used to at the orphanage when he did something bad, when a soft hand landed on top of his head, ruffling his hair.

"That's alright, kid. Don't worry about it." Shisui told him sweetly, grinning. Naruto sighed in relief.

Sasuke scoffed defiantly, ready to scold Shisui on how he probably _shouldn't_ have accepted his apology. Sakura rolled her eyes, predicting the next 5 minutes of incessant squabbling.

"What do you mean it's alright!? If Sakura didn't catch the kunai I would've _died,_ Shisui! Don't you _care_ about me!?" Sasuke whined, Shisui on the verge of shaking with laughter. Shisui's head inclined to the side slightly at the mention of the pink-haired girl he once met. His eyes met hers, and she looked back at him innocently.

"You saved Sasuke-chan?" He asked, smirking as Sasuke groaned about how he should drop that honorific already. Sakura smirked back at him, rolling her eyes a second time.

"It's not really as dramatic as he's making it sound, you know." She snickered, as a cry of

"You're taking the _Dobe's_ side!?"

was heard in the background. Shisui chuckled, running a hand through his hair.

"Okay, so, what? You just grabbed a kunai out of the air that was hurling towards Sasuke-chan and stopped it from impaling him?" Shisui teased, and Sakura shrugged in response, signing _'pretty much'_. Shisui's mouth dropped open. "Wait, you actually _did_ that?" Sakura nodded, a bit slower this time, fearing he was going to juice her for her ' _kunai-grabbing skills_ ' or something.

"Yeah, yeah, I know! Sakura-chan's awesome, isn't she!?" An idignant yell cut in, as Sakura and Shisui's gazes landed on the blonde. He suddenly pouted, throwing an arm around Sakura. "You can't have her though, 'cus she's mine." Shisui grinned, amused, his eyebrow shooting up. Naruto nodded fiercely.

"I'm not an _object,_ Naruto." A teasing voice addressed him, and Naruto rolled his eyes at the girl's silliness.

"Of course I didn't mean it like that, Sakura-chan!" He defended himself, as she laughed in response. Shaking her head.

"I know you didn't, I was only joking. Lighten up a bit!" She giggled, as Naruto's expression relaxed.

Her eyes wandered to Shisui, who was looking back at her. She shot a glance towards Sasuke, who was paying no attention to them as he practised his aim. She smiled gently.

 _Now, what to do about the Danzo situation..._ Sakura thought, plopping herself down on the ground and being subtle with rubbing her temples to ease her stress. _I could just...leave it be.._.Sakura felt like smacking herself. _No, there's no_ way _can I do that. That would be despicable. But, I wonder...would me and Naruto be involved in the massacre seeing as we are living in the compound? I certainly can't do nothing about it if those are also the circumstances._

"Sakura-chan, are you feeling okay?" Shisui asked, causing Sakura to jump a little from his sudden question. This did not go unnoticed by Shisui, who sat down next to her, leaning on his hands that were positioned behind his back.

"Y-yeah. I'm...fine." She lied, pursing her lips to stop herself accidentally blurting out the complete and utter truth.

 _No. I am_ not _fine. Far from it, Shisui. Oh, can't you_ tell? _I'm in need of desperate help here..._ She groaned mentally.

"You're not fine." He analysed, his teasing smile wiped completely from his face. His expression softened as he spoke to her. "What's _really_ going on, Sakura-chan?" Sakura gazed at him, and they shared brief seconds staring into one-another's eyes, as Sakura attempted to convey her problems through her jade orbs. It seemed her efforts were all for nought, however, as Shisui's eyebrow raised in confusion. Sakura sighed, tearing her eyes away from his own.

"A lot, actually, Shisui. You wouldn't understand. So, yeah, I'm-" Sakura accidentally told him, quickly cutting herself off. Her eyes widened a fraction as she felt the urge to cover her mouth and attempt to shove the words back down. ' _So, yeah, I'm having visions about you all dying.'_ Was what she was _going_ to say. His features hardened. "So, yeah, I'm _fine._ " She corrected before he became any more suspicious of her. He eyed her for a little more before seemingly sighing in defeat.

"If you say so, Sakura-chan...You little ball of secrets..." Shisui joked, although Sakura mentally noted that she _was,_ in fact, a little ball of secrets. "But if you need to tell me anything, I'm listening."

 _I barely even know the guy.._.Sakura mulled in thought.

 _ **Maybe you could**_ **ge** **t** _ **to know him, then,**_ a new, cheerful voice cooed inside of her head.

Sakura froze. Okay, weird vision-dream things were one thing, but now she was starting to hear _voices?_ Maybe she really _did_ need psychiatric help...

 _Um, what the_ hell? Sakura thought, frightened at the thing inside of her.

 _ **Aww, don't be scared of me, Sakura-chan! It's okay.** _It voiced again. It was then that Sakura noticed that, even if it was a quasi-childish voice, the voice belonged to a male. Sakura had to stand up and lean against Shisui to stop her from passing out. **_God, it's been so long since I've talked to someone. This is getting me so giddy! Who would've thought that we'd have another anomaly in the-_**

"Alright, you're _definitely_ not feeling well. Maybe you should go inside and lay down, Sakura-chan?" Shisui advised, as Naruto and Sasuke walked to her, or in Naruto's case, ran.

"Sakura-chan!? Are you okay!? What happened!? Did someone hurt you!? Are you-!?"

"Shut up, Dobe! She feels dizzy, and you yelling into her ear isn't helping! Didn't you just hear Shisui? He told her to go and lay down inside." Sasuke cut Naruto off. Sakura took one last look at the three before sauntering towards the door, swaying dangerously as she went.

 _ **Watch out...You're gonna fall,**_ The voice told her, sounding a little concered. With that, Sakura collapsed, not able to deal with the mental strain.

"Oh, that's not good..." Shisui muttered, before shunshinning to Sakura and catching her before she hit the floor. This time, Naruto and Sasuke both ran to her aid.

"Is she okay? What happened?" Sasuke asked, looking down at the unconscious pinkette.

Her face adorned a hot flush, that was spread from her cheeks to the tips of her ears, as she squirmed uncomfortably in Shisui's arms.

"I'm not sure. It looks like she's got a fever, but I think I'll take her to the hospital just in case." Shisui explained, shifting the girl in his arms so that he was holding her bridal style. Naruto freaked out, his eyes widening comically.

"The hospital!? What!? Is she gonna _die-!?"_ Sasuke slapped a hand over the blonde's mouth before he could wake the whole compound up.

"She's _fine,_ Dobe. _You_ told me Sakura was awesome, _didn't_ you? If she's half as awesome as you paint her out to be, then she won't die to something stupid like this, _would_ she?" Sasuke rhetorically questioned, before Naruto scowled in defense.

"She _is_ awesome, Sasuke-bastard! Of _course_ she won't die! I was just- I was _worried_!" Naruto lashed out, crossing his arms, an embarrassed blush setting on his cheeks. Sasuke rolled his eyes in judgmental acceptance.

"If you two are done arguing, I think I'll be taking her, then." Shisui told them, as Naruto perked his head up.

"We're coming with you." Naruto demanded, concerned for his best friend. Sasuke nodded silently in agreement. Shisui raised an eyebrow.

"Can you keep up? I'm going to be travelling by roof. Shunshinning there would make Sakura-chan more queasy than she already feels." Shisui asked them, as Naruto's shoulders fell.

"Um, I don't know how to travel by roof...but I'll follow you on the ground!" Naruto offered, grinning. Sasuke couldn't grip himself on the tiles yet either, so he decided that he was also going to stick to the ground route.

"Fine, you two just meet me there. The more time we spend talking, the worse Sakura-chan will feel." Shisui concluded, rotating sharply on his heel and taking to the roofs towards the hospital, followed by a slightly slower younger Uchiha.

"I- _eh!? Wait for me!"_

* * *

Chapter done! Sorry if my updates are not constant, school is really frustrating. Anyway, how do you feel now that Sakura's dreams (or visions, as we know) are causing her trouble? Please leave your reviews; it makes me so happy reading them! Leave questions and I will answer them! Thank you :) Also, I read before that 'Okaa-san' is a term that you would use to describe someone _else's_ mother, and 'Haha' is what you would use to talk to your own, which goes against what I wrote in chapter 2 and everything past there. With this knowledge, I won't necessarily change anything, but more or less inform you about this because I sure didn't know this before, and I doubt alot of you did, either. It would look odd putting 'Haha' into sentences, though, so I'm going to write it how I would normally write it.

P.s, I get that some people enjoy reading my chapters, and that makes me really happy, however I get stressed when people review things like "Hurry!" Or "Continue! Next chapter please!" Because it feels like people are rushing me. I know thats not the case, but if you could refrain from saying those things it would calm me down a whole lot :)


	12. Chapter 12

"So, what's wrong with her?" A concerned Shisui asked the nurse, introduced as Ko, that was currently assessing Sakura. Ko sent a glance to the two children eagerly awaiting her answer.

"She's fine." Ko told Shisui, a strange glint in her eye. "Ah, but the children must step out for a minute while I talk about some important paperwork." Naruto and Sasuke sighed in relief at Sakura being okay, but otherwise lost interest when the nurse started talking about paperwork. They complied, walking out to wait in the sitting area. Shisui's eyes shot back to Ko.

"Okay. How is she really?" He pressed, as Ko's mouth pursed upwards, eyeing the scans.

"Her brain has suffered from minor trauma that has caused her system to shut down. She's not comatose, but she will need to stay in here a whilst we run some more tests on her." Ko explained, flipping through more of her documents and scribbling something down.

 _"Trauma?"_ The Uchiha repeated, a hint of incredulity lacing his tone. "Where did it come from?"

"I know about as much as you do right now, Uchiha-san," She sighed exhasperatedly, rolling her eyes. "That is why I have requested to keep her in here a while longer. At least until she can tell me what happened. Psychological distress is normally a main cause of trauma, but it can be due to other things aswell." Shisui nodded, satisfied, his face showing a little of concern for the younger girl.

"So, how long would she be in here for?" Shisui asked, wondering how the two boys would do without her, considering how emotionally attached they were to the pinkette. Ko merely shrugged.

"Three days at most. Four if it's a little serious. Anything worse than that, we will decide later. Ah, and before I forget," Ko said, slamming down a piece of paper in his face. "We need parental signatures to ensure no lawsuits will be held against us for any impending damage." Shisui frowned.

"I don't _know_ her parents." He told her earnestly. " _You're_ the hospital, you should have some records on her."

Ko tutted, obviously annoyed that she would have to look for them. She flung open a draw named ' _Age_ _seven civilians',_ or ASC for short, and scrolled through the names, landing on Sakura Haruno. She delved further in, but it seemed only one name was present in ' _relatives_ '.

"Haname Haruno is the only family member we have on record for Haruno-san. It seems she is not currently in the village, so I guess your signature will have to do." Ko didn't sound overly-pleased with the outcome, but otherwise stood by patiently and waited for the Uchiha to read through the terms and regulations. A few minutes later, he handed her the signed document back. "Thank you, Uchiha-san. Come by the hospital whenever if you wish to check up on Sakura, but we will attempt to notify you when she has been released." Shisui nodded.

"Okay, thanks again, Ko-san." He thanked, turning and walking out of the door to find Sasuke and Naruto surprisingly sitting quietly next to each other, seemingly waiting for Shisui to tell them the details. The jumped out of their seats and raced to him when Shisui walked out of the doors.

"Is she okay!?"

"What did she tell you?" Both boys rushed to ask at the same time, as Shisui almost chuckled. Deciding to mercifully spare them the fact that their friend was, in fact, _not_ okay, he settled on ruffling their hair.

"She's okay, but the hospital want her to stay with them for a bit so they can...update her profile on their system." He lied, and the Naruto nodded, smiling. Sasuke, on the other hand...

"You're lying." Sasuke accussed. Shisui flinched.

"Eh?" Shisui oh-so-intelligently responded.

"You always do that thing with your hands when you're lying. When you look off to the side and your fingers move a little like this," Sasuke demonstrated. "I know 'cus Itachi-nii used to do the same thing! But he's stopped now since his superiors made him not be so readable, or something like that...What's really going on?" Shisui mentally cursed the boy for being so intuitive.

"Okay, you got me, Sasuke-chan..." Shisui shrugged, throwing his hands behind his head, which Sasuke didn't realise was in an attempt to obscure his view from them. Sasuke growled at the honorific. "They're making her do chores. She accidentally knocked one of their IV tubes over and now she's gotta work for 'em." Naruto's eyes widened.

 _"Forever!?_ Is she gonna be a hospital slave and never ever see me or Sasuke-teme again, _ever_!?" Naruto asked, repeatedly.

"Yeah, how long for!?" Sasuke joined in, and Shisui groaned.

"Only for a few days...Don't get so riled up about it..." Shisui told them, grabbing them by their collars and dragging them out of the hospital doors despite their cries of protest. He dumped them outside, to which they quickly got up and glared heatedly at the elder Uchiha. "Okay, Sakura-chan's safe now. Go play, or something." Shisui ushered them off. Sasuke and Naruto exchanged wary looks before whizzing off in an intense game of tag.

-Sakura Narration POV-

 _What's going on? I...I can't move,_ Sakura mentally noted.

She opened her eyes to be met with the vast darkness. Suddenly, she felt an alluring presence near her, and the voice she had been hearing returned.

 **"Are you alright?"** He asked, although she still could not see anything. Her breathing increased, as she struggled to maintain whatever sanity she had left.

"W-where am I!?" She asked, frantically kicking her legs to escape bindings that she thought were there...However, nothing held her down physically.

 **"No, no! Don't panic! You're safe."** The slightly older male voice told her softly, although Sakura felt everything _but_ safe. She bit back a snarl and attempted to repeat her question, before he cut her off again. **"You're inside of your head. I guess, we're in, like...your thoughts!"** He told her.

"I'm...what? You must be crazy..." Sakura insulted, confused, before she gasped. "No, _I_ must be crazy...Oh god, what _happened_? I'm talking to a voice inside of my head. I'm talking to a _voice_ inside of my _head_." She repeated, trying to make sense of the situation.

 **"As much as I would like to tell you, it will save much more explanation if we wait for it to just take it's course."** He said, in a way that did not make Sakura feel any less uncertain.

"What do you mean ' _take it's course'_? Wha- What are you talking about?" She asked, jagged breaths escaping her mouth and betraying her fear. She was met with silence. "Answer me! What's going on!? I don't know what's happening! Am I hurt? I-"

 **"I can't actually _see_ you, you know. I can only talk to you.**" He answered, his voice mildly quieter than it previously was. " **As for... _this_ , you are fine. I promise. Just be patient, and it'll all work out!"** Sakura was becoming increasingly frustrated with the voice's antics and growled, but stopped after abruptly feeling lightheaded.

"Aa...I don't...feel so...good..." She stated slowly, her voice fading with every word until she was out cold once more.

 **"Good luck, Sakura-chan."**

-Normal Narration POV-

"Quick! Ko-sama!" A light female voice shouted from Sakura's room, accompanied by the sound of thrashing and pained groans. Ko ran in without warning, to see the little girl hyperventilating and knocking over everything within her radius as she kicked about in panic.

"What's going on!?" Ko demanded, and the blonde assistant, Heni, shook her head in confusion, hands clasped to her chest as she looked over the pink-haired girl. She looked back to Ko when Sakura's let out a strangled scream, clutching the bedsheets as if they were her lifeline.

"I-I don't know! She settled down after I gave her the anesthetics, but then she just started to panic and her heartrate increased rapidly!" Heni told Ko, to which Ko sent a heated glare towards the learning blonde in reply.

"You gave her _anesthesia_? She's suffering from _trauma_! You don't give trauma patients _anesthetics_!" Ko strictly rebuked, as the blonde flinched. "She was _already_ unconscious - you've sped up her nervous system!" The blonde shook her head rapidly, frightened of losing her job to something so simple.

"I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't realise!" Heni apologised, bowing with each word. Ko shook her head and ran a hand down her ageing face.

"You're not experienced, you shouldn't even be _in_ this room. Hand me the restraints." Ko strictly ordered, as the other woman desperately fumbled through the cupboards to find them before handing them to the head of department.

She tied them to Sakura's limbs and Sakura seemed to stop thrashing about for a minute, but her breathing and heart rate still remained expeditious and she almost looked frightened, whipping her head from side to side as if to analyze where she was, even if her eyes were closed.

"We're going to have to stabilise her," Ko rubbed her temples, trying to calm her own breathing down, that was no doubt caused from frustration. "If her heart rate doesn't slow down, she's going to send herself into cardiac arrest."

"Should I...get the medicine?" Heni asked meekly, rubbing her clasped hand together, head lowered a little in submission.

"Yes. Be quick." Ko ordered, throwing on her white coat and pulling out blue latex gloves, slipping them on without effort. Heni rushed out of the room and came back with a jar of clear fluid.

Ko pulled a syringe out of the cupboard and inserted it into the fluid, filling it to the brim. After bringing it in front of her face and testing it, she settled the syringe against Sakura's arm, before inserting it in. She heard Sakura whimper a little in pain, wincing as the needle pushed all of the liquid into her.

Her heart rate returned to normal as a result and Sakura was no longer breathing rapidly, as she was about to fall unconscious.

"Aa...I don't...feel so...good..." Ko heard Sakura mutter quietly under her breath, before falling unconscious. Ko breathed a sigh of relief at the positive results.

"Heni. Patient update documents. Give them to me." Ko demanded strictly, pointing to pieces of paper across the room. Heni jumped from being directly spoken to before scurrying across the room and grabbing the papers, fumbling with them before handing them over. "Thank you, Heni. However, this will be going on your report. Your actions will not be excused, and it is my job as Head of Department to enforce these rules, which you have very obviously broken by breaching your regulations and coming into this room. Sakura will be bed-ridden for longer than we anticipated now. More than a week, I presume." Heni's bottom lip trembled as Ko explained the consequences for such actions.

"Am I going to lose my job?" Heni asked, voice wavering slightly, as Ko refused to make eye contact with her, instead focusing her glare at the papers in front of her.

"Not at this point, no. But you could've killed her had I not been here, and that is something that we as an institution do not take lightly. Even the _slightest_ mistake from you again, and I will ask you to resign." Ko told her, as Heni nodded weakly, unshed tears building up in her eyes. "Go home early today, and remember to check yourself out at reception." Was all Ko said before exiting the room.

Heni could only shuffle her way to the outside doors and cry.

-Shisui Narration POV-

At the Uchiha Compound, Shisui closed a door which shut easily with a hesitant click. He slipped his shoes off and cupped his hands, preparing to shout his greetings, before Itachi came around the corner, pressing a finger to his lips and indicating for Shisui to be quiet. Shisui quickly closed his mouth, forming an awkward line and lowered his hands.

"What's wrong? Is someone asleep?" Shisui asked his little cousin, as Itachi raised a teasing eyebrow at Shisui.

"No. I just didn't want your obnoxious yelling to be the first thing I heard in the morning." Itachi deadpanned, as Shisui rolled his eyes.

" _Attitude_ , little cousin." Shisui tutted, smirking knowingly as Itachi frowned at him. "Where is Mikoto-oba?" Shisui questioned, and Itachi pointed towards the kitchen. Knowing he wouldn't say much more in Shisui's aid, he headed for the kitchen to be greeted with his auntie's warm smile and a friendly exclamation of,

"Shisui-kun! Oh, how have you been?"

by the raven-haired woman before he was enveloped in a hug. Shisui refrained from mentioning that he couldn't breath, instead choosing to wait until she had finished the hug. She finally did, and Shisui had to stop himself from heaving at the sudden ease of pressure upon his chest. Mikoto quickly continued to wash the dishes.

"I've been fine, Mikoto-oba, however," Mikoto stopped scrubbing the dishes when she noticed that Shisui's speech lacked the teasing tone it usually held, normally meaning it was serious. "Sasuke's friend, Sakura-chan, I think it was-"

"Sakura-chan?" Mikoto asked, voice soft and questioning. "What happened to her?" Shisui's cleared his throat.

"She collapsed this morning and I had to take her to the hospital," Shisui started, and Mikoto gasped, a delicate hand coming to cover the opening of her mouth. "They said she was suffering minor trauma and might have to stay there for a couple of days...It doesn't affect me necessarily, but Sasuke seems quite fond of her."

"Oh dear...That's not good." Mikoto whispered, her eyebrows arched in a way that showed off her perturbation. She looked back to the sink, her uneasiness getting the better of her. "I do hope she's okay. From what I have seen of the girl, she is very sweet and I would hate to see anything bad happen to her. Even I can tell that Sasuke-chan likes her, be it friend or something more, and you know how he is with girls." Shisui nodded.

"Yeah, this morning she might have actually saved Sasuke-chan's life." Shisui shrugged, and Mikoto almost dropped the dish that she was tending to in shock.

"Saved his life? What did that silly boy do now?" Mikoto grumbled, no doubt thinking up ways to punish him when he got home. Shisui chuckled lightly at his relative's train of thought.

"Surprisingly, Sasuke-chan didn't do anything this time. That Naruto kid-"

"Kushina's boy?" Mikoto quickly asked, earning a miniscule nod in confirmation from Shisui. "Sasuke-chan and Naruto are friends? Since when did this happen?" Shisui frowned, thinking she was getting the wrong idea.

"Him, Sakura-chan and Naruto are all friends now. Naruto's a nice kid, not at all what he's perceived to be, ya' know." Shisui explained with a shrug, earning a glare from Mikoto as she interpreted his insinuation with the intuitiveness of a mother with a lot of experience and too much time on her hands.

"Of course he is. Why wouldn't he be?" Mikoto asked gently, eyes softening. "Kushina's son deserved better." She whispered gently.

"Yeah." Shisui agreed, letting a few seconds pass before continuing. "When they were training with kunai, Naruto accidentally let go of one and sent it hurling towards Sasuke-chan. Sakura-chan intercepted it and probably saved him either his life, or a huge medical bill." Mikoto scowled at Shisui.

"My baby's _life_ is more important than _money_ -"

"I know, Mikoto-oba, I know," Shisui snickered with an eye roll, as he turned to see Itachi standing in the doorway with a contemplative expression dawning his features. "Uh, 'Tachi, you okay?" Shisui asked, eyebrow impassively raised upon impulse. Itachi slowly looked toward him with a hesitant nod.

"I didn't realise that the girl had saved Sasuke." Itachi stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Shisui placed his hands behind his head, shrugging.

"She's also in the _hospital."_ Shisui hissed, as if Itachi should worry more for her. Itachi's mouth dropped a little.

"I heard." Itachi told him, holding up an open envelope and a letter in it. "I also read it. I think you should, too. It's quite important." Itachi silently handed Shisui the letter and walked out, Shisui's eyes on his back the whole time. Shisui rubbed the back of his head with a sigh.

"He confuses me so much." Shisui admitted, before Mikoto chuckled in agreement and motioned for him to read the letter out loud. Shisui complied. _"Dear Shisui Uchiha_ ," It started, _"A major inconvenience for us in the hospital and also for you has occurred this morning after an inexperienced nurse gave anesthesia to our trauma patient, Sakura Haruno. Due to her not being completely stable at the time, we had to put her in a medically-induced state of unconsciousness that will undoubtedly take her longer to wake up from. It seems that she will take at least a week to recover, much to our distaste here at Konohagakure's hospital. We hope this is not too bothersome for you. Kind regards, The Head Medic, Ko Nemika._ " Shisui lowered the letter, a frown on his face.

"Ah, I see." Mikoto hummed softly. "I used to work briefly as a medic - I wasn't very good at it, per se, but I _do_ remember that you aren't supposed to give patients with trauma anesthesia. It's strictly against the rules." Shisui nodded, taking in the information like a sponge to water.

He wondered what the boys were gonna do with her not there, since he didn't actually tell them what had happened. They were bound to find out, right? Maybe he could just play it off. Yeah, he'd do that.

"Okay, thanks, Mikoto-oba. I'm gonna take my leave now. I've got training with 'Tachi." Shisui explained, and Mikoto smiled slightly in understanded before putting her arms out in a ' _shoo_ ' motion. He obliged, walking out of the door to go and find Itachi.


	13. Chapter 13

-Sakura's mind-

 **"Hello again, Sakura-chan."** A familiar voice called out from the darkness. Sakura stirred in her sleep, mumbling something incoherent before awakening with a yawn. Sakura was too tired to panic and kick around, and her muscles were too relaxed. She settled for sitting on the ground, looking around.

"Hello." She responded with reluctance. She could practically feel the voice's warm aura radiating from it. "Can I ask what's going on without you responding in cryptic answers?" The voice laughed lightly.

 **"Yeah, I guess. I'll tell you what I know**." He replied, as Sakura listened on. " **When I first bloomed in your mind and attempted to introduce myself, your developing Kek- uhm, developing brain couldn't process it, because it wasn't fully functional yet. You suffered minor trauma from it and went unconscious. I could feel something, I think it was an Uchiha. Yeah, it was. I could feel their Kekkei Genkai, and they took you to the hospital. You came here, where you freaked out and the nurse's had to give you something to put you in a comatose state."** Sakura jolted up.

"I'm in a _coma!?"_ She questioned, fear laced in her voice. She could hear him clearing his voice awkwardly.

 **"Yes and no. You're...in a comatose _state,_ but not a coma.**" He explained, as Sakura shuffled hesitantly on her feet, breath evening out. " **When you were unconscious, I heard them say that you would take more than a week to wake up-"**

"A _week_?" Sakura groaned, already growing accustomed to whatever split-personality disorder she quite obviously was the host of.

 **"Uh- _no._ Can you let me speak, please**?" He asked, continuing. " **They said it would take longer than a week, but I can help you wake up today, if you'd like."** Sakura eyed the abyss around her with clear skepticism.

"What's the catch? Why are you helping me out?" She murmured suspiciously. She heard the boy chuckle softly.

 **"The only thing I'll ask is for you not to freak out when I explain what's going on to you. I won't go into detail now, but I'll put it simply; your clan is more crucial than you think."** He replied, and she hummed, a tone of disbelief evident in her voice.

"How so?" She asked, fingering the lace of her cloak that hung elegantly behind her.

 **"I said I wouldn't go into detail.** " He told her, the way he said it making it seem like he was reminding a toddler that they needed to eat their dinner first before having any sweets. " **Just to let you know, the dreams you've been having? Yeah, they're definitely more than dreams. But I think you found that out on your own after the Kyuubi, didn't you? Your role is simple; you'll have to stop the Uchiha Massacre**." Sakura's breath hitched, preventing whatever snarky comment she was going to make from leaving her throat at the mention of that dream.

"The dream with Itachi?" She asked, to which he hummed in affirmation. She stayed silent for a few seconds, before, "...I don't know how to." She reluctantly admitted.

 **"Then I'll tell you how to. Save Shisui Uchiha. If you stop him from being killed, the future will rewrite itself. No war. No death. No Akatsuki. No-"** He cut himself off, realising he had said too much. Sakura played with her pink hair, rubbing the strand inbetween two fingers, oblivious to his slip-up.

"Are _you_ the one showing me the dreams?" She asked quietly, her eyes not leaving her hair in fear of an impending panic attack.

 **"No, that's not me doing that.** " He told her. A pregnant pause followed, as if he was contemplating what his next words would be. " **This may seem strange to you, but I'm not the only one. There's two more you've yet to meet."** Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"Not the only _what_?" She asked, feeling like she already knew the answer. "I don't understand. What do you mean?"

 **"I guess there's really no right way to word this...but, I'll try the best I can** ," He admitted, his voice never wavering in all of it's joyful glory. His voice was always so happy despite the perilous situation that Sakura had found herself in. " **I'm not a voice, I'm a person, but you can't see me yet. Something... _special..._ will happen, and you'll set us free, I guess. But this time, I'll become corporeal and be able to actually move. It's weird just floating around with no body, you know. There are two others here aswell, but they haven't found their voices yet.**" When Sakura's eyebrows raised, he laughed.

"Ehh...What?" She scratched her head in discombobulation.

 **"It's confusing, I know. Just think of it like this; there are three boys floating around in a dark place, and their voices and bodies are separated. One boy finds his voice and is able to communicate, but still needs to find his body. It turns out that, in order to find his body, a girl needs to dig deep inside of herself to uncover a secret and unleash it. The other two boys have yet to find their voices**." He explained, and Sakura's mouth formed a straight line as she comprehended this information, understanding him. " **The secret the girl must find out, will be explained to her as she becomes of age. But, when she changes one thing, a price must be paid with another. She would have to uncover this secret by herself."**

"I... _guess_ I understand." Sakura replied, her head full of many, many unanswered questions. She started with the simplest one she could conjure up. "What's your name?"

 **"M-my _name?_** _"_ He asked, taken aback. Sakura wondered why that was **. "I...think my name is Suijin."** He _thinks_? When was the last time he spoke to someone?

"That's a nice name." She complimented, despite other questions threatening to escape her lips. "What about the other two?" She asked.

 **"They're called...Raijin and Yogenshin**." Suijin told her, as she smiled. Another thought passed her.

"You mentioned that they can't find their voices yet," She started, tapping her chin. "But can they still hear us?" Suijin made a thoughtful sound.

 **"I suppose they can.** " He said, although there was a trace of question in his tone. **"I better watch what I say, then...Raijin gets a little angry sometimes**." He chuckled, then muttered a quiet afterthought, " ** _Wow_. That was the biggest understatement I've ever subjected myself to willingly.**" Sakura nodded simply in understanding.

"What about-"

 **"Are you just going to ask me every question that comes to mind**?" Suijin sighed with exasperation. Sakura nodded again. **"I figured..."**

"Which one of your friends is responsible for the dreams, if it's not you?" She questioned, laying herself down and throwing her hands behind her head.

If she was going to stay here for a while, she might as well make the most of it and shed some light on to what the hell was going on. Oh yeah, Suijin said he could wake her up whenever, right? ...Oh well. She could still ask some questions.

 **"That would be Yogenshin, I believe.** " Suijin told her without hesitation, as he reminisced about something. " **He naps alot. Super lazy. Nothing bad compared to that snob Raijin, though. He thought he was all that just cus' he was strong. I oughta teach him a lesson-** " Suijin was abruptly cut off when the abyss suddenly shook with fury, and Suijin boomed with laughter. " **That's Raijin. He doesn't have a voice, but his anger is explosive. Even I have more self control than that maggot-brained idio-"** The shaking was stronger this time.

"I don't think he appreciates you bad-mouthing him." Sakura mused, close to laughing despite knowing nothing of the three mysterious men who dwelled inside of her head. Suijin hummed in confirmation.

 **"I don't think he appreciates anything. He always _was_ a spoilt**-" The darkness shook with so much fury that Sakura had to put her hands down next to her to stop herself from rolling over onto her sides. " **Ah, whatever. I'll stop. You don't need to be so demanding, Raijin**." Sakura allowed a laugh to pass, her eyes closed in an n-shape.

Sakura's brow furrowed delicately in thought, a pensive mood overtaking her. This was so confusing. Why _her_? She wasn't anything special. At least, she _thought_ she wasn't, but apparently her clan was ' _more crucial than she thinks_ ', Suijin had worded it.

It made sense that there were some secrets that her clan was not telling her. She was an Heiress, didn't she deserve to know about her own clan? Her father and mother had inexplicably ordered her to keep their clan a secret. Why, exactly? She'd learned that there were clans in Konoha, too, so why must _they_ hide from people?

She had dwelled in familiar thought in the past, but she had never given it much time to ask herself. The Kyuubi said that the Haruno had changed their name, but as far as she knew, that had been their clan's name for centuries. Maybe her parents didn't know, but maybe they did. Perhaps the clan secrets that Suijin had hinted to her multiple times were what were needed to give him and the two others their bodies back.

Suijin had told her that her clan had secrets, so he undoubtedly knew them. Why wasn't he telling her, if that was the case, then? Wouldn't it save much trouble to just tell her what the secret was - the secret that everyone was so adamant in keeping safe, and then get his body back? She decided to ask him.

"What's the clan secret?" Sakura asked, supposing it was best just to not sugar-coat her words and get straight the the point. She leaned her chin on her hand - there was a pause.

 **"You're quite blunt.** " Suijin said as if he was biting back laughter. He coughed awkwardly. **"Sorry, Sakura-chan, but I'm afraid I can't tell you that."**

"But you could get your body back-"

" **Yes, I know. Don't you think I would've done that right now, if that was the case?"** He questioned, rhetorically. She scowled. **"I wish I could tell you, but I can't."**

"Why not?" She challenged, clenching her fists unconsciously at her sides.

" **There's-** " Suijin cut himself off - more like, he basically clamped his non-existent mouth shut. He sighed **. "I wish I could show you, but I don't have my body."** She growled, infuriated with his antics.

"Tell me and you'll get your body back."

 **"It doesn't work like that. I can't tell you**."

"Why not!?" She slammed a fist on the ground.

 **"I'm physically unable to.** " He desperately explained, hoping that she was smart enough to understand. Her anger seemed to simmer down a little.

"...Okay." She sighed, fingering her bubblegum-pink hair. "So...how does this work? Are you just going to be in my head from now on?"

 **"Yeah. Although, if I get too talkative I'm pretty sure you can push me to the back of your mind."** Suijin explained, and Sakura nodded, soaking in all of the information. She was definitely going to ask Haname what the _hell_ was going on when she came to visit again.

The journey to Konoha had taken about nine hours, a lot of whining about how Sakura's legs hurt, grabbing pretty things that Sakura saw, defending herself by claiming they were ' _souveneirs_ ' - much to Haname's amusement - and a lot of pit stops. However, that was just because Sakura was not used to travelling, so she supposed it would take Haname around three hours considering how often she went out to complete missions.

Sakura sighed, running a hand through her surprisingly soft pink hair once more, before standing up.

"When's the earliest you can wake me up?" Sakura asked, hoping it would be right now. She heard Suijin hum in thought before responding.

 **"An hour. I feed off of your chakra, and at the minute, it's at an all-time low**." Suijin replied, causing her to huff in annoyance. " **If** **you do some meditation in your mind, I believe that it'll have the same effects as it would if you did it physically**." Sakura nodded, falling easily into her much-practised position and meditating. Apparently, it was even soothing for Suijin, as he had amazingly stopped talking. Sakura had honestly thought his rambling would never cease.

"Let's hope this hour goes quick, then." She impatiently murmured, noticing how he seemed to miss the subtle jab of her insinuating that he was annoying, before falling silent and succumbing to the peaceful darkness around her.

* * *

I hope you liked this chapter! I sincerely hope it wasn't too confusing. But, then again, would I have categorised this 'mistery' if it wasn't? That aside, I wonder if any if you can guess why Suijin couldn't tell her? I'm sure some of you have an idea! This chapter was mainly to shed some on light and give some developement to Suijin's character and Sakura's Kekkei Genkai. We'll get into the juicy drama later.

'Suijin' - meaning 'Water God-

'Raijin' - meaning 'Lightning God'

'Yogen-shin' (Or Yogenshin') - meaning 'Prophet God' or 'Prophecy God'

Does that give you a little idea of what her Kekkei Genkai may behold in the future? ;)


	14. Chapter 14

-With Naruto and Sasuke in the woods-

"Got you again, Teme!" Naruto shouted, tugging on Sasuke's clothes, still playing that game of tag they had bounded off in. Sasuke growled at the blonde who hung onto his shirt.

"You cheated! You can't pull my clothes!" Sasuke accused, yanking his black, high-collared t-shirt out of Naruto's grip.

 _"What!?_ You did the same thing to me, bastard!" Naruto screeched, folding his arms and scowling. Sasuke pouted. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Naruto was fast. He was basically _asking_ for a minor game of tug of war.

"Did not!" Sasuke growled, his slightly high-pitched voice causing Naruto's blood to boil.

"Oh yeah you did, liar!" Naruto argued, shoving Sasuke a little so that he took a few steps back. "What, are we changing the rules in the middle of the game now, Teme?" Sasuke's look hardened.

"Don't push me, Dobe!" Sasuke shouted, accomodated with a slightly-harder shove of his own to Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto's jaw set, and his eyes narrowed. Oh, that was _it._ He pushed a little harder back. Sasuke pushed back even harder. He pushed back slightly more, before Sasuke shoved him fully onto the floor.

With a war cry, Naruto jumped up onto Sasuke, tackling him, sending furious punches to his stomach. Sasuke caught his punches and kicked furiously under Naruto. He was about to send a knock-out punch right into Naruto's jaw, before someone holstered both him and Naruto up into the air by the scruffs of their collars.

Sasuke turned his head slightly, to see a man with jade eyes - a lot like Sakura's, he noted - and neat, dark blonde hair. The man looked about in his late twenties, and also quite annoyed.

"It is quite a shame to see the youth of such a wonderful place attempting to kill each other." The man admitted, his voice smooth but deep and intimidating at the same time. "Would you be so kind as to explain to me what you two are doing so far out in the woods?"

Sasuke and Naruto's eyes met, both silently asking the same thing, their eyes clouded with confusion. In unison, they turned their heads all around, but Konoha's gates were nowhere in sight. Actually, when _had_ they came this far out?

They both remained unresponsive, and the man dropped the boys onto the cold grass underneath them, earning a yelp from Naruto as he rubbed the tender spot on his backside.

"I have asked you a question. It is only common courtesy to answer." He pressed, his voice more threatening than it had been before.

Sasuke had no idea what to do. To say he was scared was an understatement - he'd never actually _been_ out of the village before, and when Itachi went on missions outside of Konoha he always made it seem like such a dangerous place. Maybe the people were even more dangerous; besides, this man did _not_ sound friendly.

He was once told by Itachi to never talk to strangers, and if he ever came across one that wouldn't give up to just shout for him so that he could help. However, they weren't _near_ Konoha, so how was Itachi supposed to come running to their aid?

The raven-haired Uchiha was content with staying reticent, hoping that he would just drop the subject and leave them be if he refused to co-operate. Sasuke's gaze landed on Naruto, and immediately convinced himself that he recognised that look in his eyes.

 _Oh no,_ Sasuke thought, seeing the determination than shone in his cerulean orbs.

Normally, determination would be a perfectly fine emotion to have right now, but mixed with courage and mischief? Sasuke thought not. Plus, this was _Naruto._ He was an absolute moron.

"We were playing _tag,_ old man." Naruto, the stupid, _stupid_ loudmouth that he was, announced to this completely unidentified stranger, breaking their unforthcoming demeanours.

The man's eyes narrowed at the blonde who dared to call him such a brusque name.

"Now, now, _little boy,"_ The man seethed, his teeth gritted with the force of a thousand newtons. "That was quite an unmannerly nickname you gave me just then. Did no one tell you that you must respect an elder?" Naruto rolled his eyes, and at his next line, Sasuke felt like strangling him.

"Yeah, respect an elder - but you're _ancient."_ Naruto dragged out his last word, making sure to make a mockingly exhausted face and pinching his cheeks to resemble wrinkles in an attempt to exaggerate his point.

"Usuratonkachi, shut _up!"_ Sasuke berated; immediately regretting his outburst when the man's judgemental gaze fell upon him.

The man scowled as he tried to remember which prominent clan had features such as this boy's. Sasuke looked off to the side uncomfortably as he did this.

"What's your name, boy?" The stranger asked, his eyes piercing and cruel. Sasuke refused to open his mouth, but it seemed Naruto was happy to take his place.

"I'm-!"

"I know who _you_ are, Uzumaki-brat." The old man interrupted the blonde, wiping the excited grin off of his face entirely. "I've heard _exactly_ who you are." The quiet venom in that comment did not go undetected by Naruto, who shrunk under the stranger's scrutinising glare.

Yes, he knew of The Fourth's son, he knew of Kushina Uzumaki, Minato Namikaze, and the dreadful Kyuubi attack. Of course he knew. There was barely anyone who _didn't._

However, Kushina's and the Hokage's son or not, he was not about to bow down to some imprudent, audacious idiot child who failed to know his place.

Sasuke frowned at the man's crass behaviour. Yes, Naruto was an idiot sometimes, but the only ones allowed to berate him for it was him and Sakura. Not some churlish, ill-mannered nutcase that just happened to live in the woods of all places. Like, _seriously,_ misanthrope much?

Naruto scowled at the man, his eyes taking on their usual squinted look as he bared his teeth and folded his arms defiantly. He growled, outsretching his tanned arm to point accusingly at the older man.

"Well you _obviously_ didn't hear right, old man! It's _Naruto!_ Not 'Uzumaki-brat'!" Naruto shouted, obnoxiously invading the man's personal space to give him a death glare. "Oh, yeah! I forgot that oldies lose their hearing! You losing it already, oldie!? Let me tell you again - Definitely not ' _Uzumaki-brat_ '! No, no, no! It's _Naruto!_ Say it with me! N-A-R-U-!"

"Shut up, Uzumaki-brat," The stranger growled once more, despite Naruto's protests on the man's name. "I want _his_ name. Not _yours."_ The man gestured towards Sasuke, and Naruto seethed.

Naruto opened his mouth to retort, but Sasuke held up a hand to stop Naruto. Luckily, Naruto didn't say whatever inappropriate remark he was predictably about to sputter out thanks to Sasuke's silent plea for him to let him speak. Sasuke decided that if he was to give his name, this absolutely crabbed grouch was too.

"Tell me your name and I'll tell you mine." Sasuke said with renewed valour, as the man turned back to him. He grunted.

"Why?" The man asked, dismissively.

"Well, why do _you_ want to know _my_ name?" Sasuke catechized, folding his arms. He knew that he'd caught the man when he scowled back at him - or maybe that was just the man's face. Who knows?

"Curiosity normally gets the better of me. I usually don't ask for little boy's names, so today is an honour for you, brat. I suggest you give me your name." The man growled, his teeth grinding together in frustration. When Sasuke didn't respond, he tried again, "Why do you want to know my name?"

When Sasuke's famous Uchiha smirk plastered onto his face, the man knew he had made a mistake.

"Curiosity normally gets the better of me. I usually don't ask for an old man's name, so today is an honour for you, Ojii-chan." Sasuke responded, taking a little too much joy in the miffed face of the older stranger. The man caved in, giving a very disgruntled huff and telling him.

"My name is Sorako Haruno, however, I do not consider myself a Haruno anymore." Sorako told them, and Naruto's eyes lit up, seemingly ignoring the last part.

Naruto bounced over to Sasuke and shook his shoulders, pointing at the man rapidly.

"Did you hear that, Sasuke-bastard? _Haruno!_ The same as Sakura-chan!" Naruto enquired, as Sasuke gave a nod, meaning that he had thought that aswell. Sorako's expression turned into a bemused one as he overlooked the two children.

"Who is this _Sakura_ that you speak of?" Sorako asked, the sudden interest that lit up his features eerily disturbing, and Sasuke was about to clamp a hand over Naruto's mouth to avoid revealing anything too sensitive about their friend, but it seemed that there was no need.

"Eh? Why do you want to know about Sakura-chan, you creep!? You better leave her alone, you hear me!?" Naruto cried, stomping towards the man, before he was held back by Sasuke. Naruto was punching the air and cursing under his breath at Sorako, calling him a pervert, a pedo, and every other name under the sun.

Sasuke did have to admit that Naruto had quite a short fuse, and for all of the wrong reasons. If Naruto pointed out that this man could be her family, then why was he so quick to shake him off when he had asked about her? How... _idiotic._

"Tell me who-"

"She's got pink hair, sparkly green eyes and she's super cute! She's so amazing!" Naruto rambled, fawning over the girl as Sasuke just stared at him in annoyance. What. A. Hypocrite. A complete 180° turn from what his previous behaviour suggested this man was.

Sorako seemed to tense up, and looked off in another direction. Sasuke hit Naruto over the head, calling him stupid when Sorako looked away. Naruto elbowed him in the gut, and so they went back and fourth, elbow-bowing each other even as Sorako turned back to them.

"I'm leaving now." Sorako told them, before sending them a stern look as they elbowed eachother. He put his hands together, forming a sign, before Naruto and Sasuke started pinching one-another's sensitive spot under the arm. They both hissed in pain. "And stop fighting. It's annoying." Is all Sorako gave them as parting before shunshinning away.

Sasuke immediately pulled Naruto's hair and Naruto slapped Sasuke, both falling on the floor next to each other. Silence overtook them before Naruto spoke up and broke it.

"Hey, Teme?"

"What?"

"Sorry."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too."

...

"Wanna go see Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah."

They stood up, and stayed silent.

...

"Hey, Teme?"

"What?"

"How are we going to get home?"

"...Are we lost?"

Blink. Blink. Blink.

"AAAAH! WE'RE LOST, TEME! WE'RE NEVER GONNA GET HOME! WHAT IF SAKURA-CHAN MISSES US!? WHAT IF THAT OLD MAN DOES SOMETHING TO HER WHILE WE'RE GONE!? WHAT IF-!"

* * *

"Hey, Dobe!" Sasuke waved over, and pointed to a mark on a tree that Sasuke distinctly remembered. "I think we're going the right way. I remember this." Naruto's mouth fell open, forming an 'o' as he nodded vigorously at the Uchiha.

"Yeah, I remember that too." Naruto agreed, beaming and pointing in the direction in front of them. He grabbed Sasuke's arm and tugged him along, exclaiming, "Konoha can't get rid of us that easily! Come on Sasuke-teme, don't make me drag you all the way there!" Sasuke just silently obliged, following Naruto until the Konoha gates came into sight.

The sprinted all the way over there, ignoring the scathing looks and unintelligible comments directed towards the blonde as they entered once more.

Naruto didn't seem to mind all of the mutters and murmurs around him, all of the horrid names they called him under their breath, as he was too focused on going to find ' _his beloved Sakura-chan_ '.

Naruto had previously claimed that one day, he was going to be Hokage, and Sakura would fall in love with him along with every other female in the village. Needless to say, Sasuke begged to differ. To which part of the statement he doubted went unsaid, however.

When they had finally reached the hospital, Naruto loudly swung the doors open and made sure that everyone in the building was aware of their arrival, much to Sasuke's irritation.

"HEYYYY!" The blonde screamed, as nurses rushed over to them to either shut the boy up or get him out of the hospital. He resisted, dancing away from the swipes of annoyed hospital workers. "SAKURA-CHAN? HELLOOOO- SAKURA-CHAN? ARE YOU HERE!?" Naruto cupped his hands over his mouth to improve his bellow.

And then Ko arrived.

And Naruto was now shaking.

" _Uzumaki. Why are you screaming in my hospital?_ " Ko hissed, her look a notch up from absolutely terrifying.

Naruto's eyes widened, his hands slowly falling back to his sides and a nervous smile planted on his face. He gulped, his eyes darting to everywhere but hers. His stutter was painfully obvious.

"H-hey, K-Ko-baa-sama...I'm j-just looking for S-Sakura-chan, y-ya' know..." Naruto anxiously explained, and Ko's scowl lessened. "We were going t-to play with her..."

"Did Uchiha-san not tell you?" Ko asked, an eyebrow cocked. Naruto looked confused, his own eyebrow cocking in a mirrored manner.

"Tell me what, Ko-baa-chan?" Naruto asked, his previous attitude dissapearing and substituted with his usual, fearless self. Ko's forehead ticked in anger.

"I've tolerated you calling me grandma already, Uzumaki. Don't push your luck and downgrade it from 'sama' to 'chan'." She growled, a fist raised menacingly to emphasise her point. Naruto's grin immediately faltered and he sweatdropped. Ko smirked in victory. "And Haruno-san is not allowed visitors right now."

Ko was choosing her words carefully, knowing that Shisui had not told them for a reason. Naruto whined loudly in argument.

"Awww, please! You can't keep her chained in here forever doing your boring hospital work!" Naruto moaned, and Ko had to suppress a smirk. Shisui had told them that she was working for them? "She knocked over that thing by accident, you know! She probably didn't do it on purpose!" Ko shook her head.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. However, as I have already told you, Haruno-san is not allowed visitors." Ko reiterated, her gaze softening a little at the boy's obvious fondness of her. The Uchiha next to him didn't look happy with the result, either, but she supposed that he had a little more self-control than the boisterous Uzumaki and would stay silent if unprovoked. "On that note," She took Naruto's hand, "Out." And shoved him and Sasuke outside of the doors.

Naruto screamed profanities at the Head Medic but got up off of the ground otherwise unscathed. His annoyed look was quickly overrode by one of mischief, and Sasuke inwardly cursed. Just what was that idiot planning?

"Hey, Sasuke-teme," He whispered, although for Sasuke's standards, that was still loud. "Let's sneak in, yeah?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes accusingly at the blonde before responding,

"I don't have a choice, do I?" Sasuke sighed, and by Naruto's cheeky grin he could confirm that he had guessed correctly.

"Nope. Come on, Teme."

Naruto lead them around to a window that was positioned next to a patient's room. The patient inside was sound asleep, but was not Sakura. They walked around the building for a bit before spotting a window with a hint of pink located in it.

Naruto's beam, that had previously disappeared due to their seemingly awful luck, returned full-fold, and he ran to the window, opening it.

"This is stupid. You are stupid." Sasuke mumbled, observing Naruto as he climbed inside the window. Naruto peered down at the Uchiha, a smug look adorning his usually perky features.

"What are you? _Chicken_?" He mocked, his mouth pursed, as he raised an eyebrow sceptically. The Uchiha sent a scathing look towards Naruto. "Can't you do it? It's only climbing in a window. You're supposed to be a 'super cool Uchiha', and you can't even sneak inside a window? Scaredy-cat! Scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat!" Naruto taunted, prancing around the hospital room and making mocking gestures.

"Shut up, Dobe! You're going to let them know we're here with your big mouth!" Sasuke seethed from outside of the window, before climbing in and putting Naruto's provoking chants to rest.

"Finally! I thought you were gonna wuss out or something." Naruto rolled his eyes, before turning and seeing that Sakura was asleep on a hospital bed. "Sakura-chan's sleeping on the job! HEY, SAKURA-CHAN! WAKE U-!"

Sasuke quickly slapped a hand over the blonde's mouth before recoiling at the moisture, repulsed.

"Are you an idiot!? Keep it down, will you? Want to let everyone know that we're-" Before Sasuke could finish his sentence, the room's door was flung open, revealing a very, very, very angry Head Medic.

 _"Uchiha. Uzumaki,"_ Ko started, her tone low and intimidating. Naruto and Sasuke began trembling at the mere tension hanging thickly in the atmosphere. Her eyes narrowed into slits, as she assessed the two boys. _"What are you doing in my patient's room?"_

"Uh...uhm...I...," Naruto gulped, sending a look to Sasuke. "QUICK SASUKE-TEME, LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" Naruto screamed, to which he dove head-first out of the window, with a cry of _"SHIT! MY ANKLE!"_ immediately afterwards.

Sasuke sent a cautionary glance to the window and one at Ko, as if he was debating which outcome had worse consequences. That was when Sakura began to stir, and opened her eyes, a groan of pain startling Ko, her eyes wide.

"Haruno-san! You're... _awake!?_ How is this possible!?" Ko's expression was one of awe, but also immense confusion.

Sakura merely smiled.

* * *

So, that's that. I just wanted to let you guys know that this story will be based more on the plot and development of characters and all that rather than romance. But still, I wanted to know;

If Sakura did end up with someone in the story, who would you want it to be?

Again, I love reading your reviews, so keep 'em coming! I keep thinking that no one likes my story when I get no reviews. It's sad.

Anyway, comment your answers and I'll make sure to read them!


	15. Chapter 15

-Previously, in Sakura's mind-

" **Sakura-chan** ," Suijin called, and Sakura stopped her meditation to open an eye in acknowledgement. He continued, **"Your chakra levels are full now. I can wake you up now, if you'd** -" He cut himself off with a strange growl.

"What?" Questioned Sakura, her curiosity peaking. He huffed.

 **"I feel the Kyuubi nearby. That means your friend is here too. The... _Uchiha."_** He sounded strangely hostile.

 _Sasuke and Naruto,_ Sakura mentally noted.

"Okay...Can I wake up now, then?" She asked him, and he replied with a non-commital hum of affirmation.

" **This will feel...odd, but trust me, it's normal**." He told her, and she inmediately knew what he was talking about.

She started to feel more aware, and was close to having a full-blown panic attack, her eyes widening as her head whipped around in all directions, assessing the scene.

 **"That's just your conscience waking up; you might start to hyperventilate, but it won't last long. Promise** ," Suijin explained, " **You're fading already. I can feel it**." She looked down to see that she was, in fact, fading. He bid her a farewell again and she immediately felt herself in a bed, and it smelt like the hospital. That confirmed what Suijin had told her, fortunately.

The voices around her were starting to become more and more coherent, and she made out a certain blonde's scream.

"-ET OUT OF HERE!" She heard, and then a crash and, _"SHIT! MY ANKLE!"_ She felt the breeze from a window, and- wait.

Did he just...jump out of the window?

She didn't question it, as she felt a roll of pain in her head, and couldn't help but let out a small groan at the intensity. She fluttered open her viridian eyes, and made out two figures - Sasuke and Ko, who were both staring at her. Ko's expression more in awe and confusion, and Sasuke didn't look very surprised. The hospital light was blinding, and she squinted her eyes a little.

"Haruno-san! You're... _awake!?_ How is this possible!?" Ko exclaimed, much to Sasuke's confusion. Sakura cracked a small, gentle smile. There really wasn't any way to explain what had just happened, so she just smiled. She didn't stop smiling until Ko decided to speak again. "I... How? You were supposed to be...a week...I... _miracle..."_ Ko muttered, most of her words inaudable. It sounded more like she was talking to herself rather than Sakura.

"What happened? I'm tired..." Sakura asked, raising a hand to stifle her yawn as she feined confusion. Ko looked up to meet her eyes.

"You were in a comatose state-" Suijin said that. "-and were supposed to be in there for more than a week-" Suijin said _that,_ too. "-since Shisui Uchiha took you to the hospital after you fainted-" Ah, would you look at that. Suijin also told her that.

"Wait, _what?_ So Shisui lied to me and Naruto? I thought she was just taking a nap!" Sasuke cut in, his look tired and annoyed. Ko let out a small sigh, accompanied by a hesitant nod. "I'm going to kill that idiot!" He shouted, and then meekly added, "Well, with the help of Itachi-nii, of course..."

"Miss...?" Sakura enquired, and Ko immediately snapped out of her babbling to respond to Sakura.

"Oh! Call me Ko, Haruno-san." Ko bowed slightly, and Sakura bowed back.

"Okay, Ko-sama," Sakura smiled, rubbing her head of which was currently suffering from a migraine. "Thank you for taking care of me. I trust that I can leave now?"

Ko reluctantly shook her head, walking over to a cupboard behind Sasuke, ushering him out of the way, and grabbing a clipboard. Ko opened her mouth to speak, but she let a furious gaze fall onto Sasuke.

"I will explain everything to you once this cretin is out of the room." Ko seethed, and Sasuke scowled at her.

"It's okay, Ko-sama, I don't mind-"

Ko sighed, shaking her head negative before bonking Sasuke on the head, earning a yelp from said boy.

"It's hospital rules. I cannot allow it." She explained, and Sakura nodded in understanding, before sending a look that meant ' _sorry_ ' towards Sasuke. Sasuke was indifferent, merely grinning mischievously at her. "That, and he was warned before not to come into your room." Ko added.

Sakura's pitiful gaze fell into a disappointed one on Sasuke to which he shrugged, smiling in amusement. Ko shoved him out the doors and promptly locked them, leaving no room for argument from the other party.

"Okay. Haruno-san, Haruno-san, Haruno-san...Ah, there you are." Ko mumbled repeatedly, flicking through her pages to find her profile. "Can I just ask if you felt anything strange whilst you were in your comatose state?" Ko questioned, not-so-subtedly assessing her current health condition.

Sakura thought for a minute, knowing that she couldn't tell her about Suijin. She shook her head ' _no_ ' and Ko nodded, jotting the answer down.

"Okay. Can I ask if anything troubling has happened in the past few weeks - something that may cause your brain to suffer from trauma?" Ko asked, and Sakura once again shook her head, lying. Ko hummed. "I would see it fit to take a sample of your blood, if you allow us to."

Sakura scrunched up her button nose. She was fine with senbons, kunais, shurikens, and many other weapons - but she _hated_ needles. No, no, no.

"I...would like to go home and rest for a bit, if you don't mind. I need a while to soak in this information, and maybe think about whether something actually has happened." Sakura replied, and Ko set down her clipboard, frowning. "I can't remember anything," She lied through her teeth, "So it's a bit overwhelming just waking up in the hospital all of a sudden. I thank you for your services and hospitality, though. Please excuse my brusqueness."

"I'm afraid that we can't let you go without getting just a little sample, Haruno-san. Or at least a scan of your brain." Ko offered, and Sakura sighed in relief, nodding with a smile.

"Alright. A scan would be fine, thank you."

* * *

"And the results are in, Haruno-san. You are free to go. Thank you for your cooperation." Ko dismissed, and Sakura bowed in departure.

"Thank you, Ko-sama." Sakura thanked once more, before walking off to find someone she knew.

She trekked a small while down the roads of Konoha, and immediately saw Sasuke and Naruto, looking less-than-pleased with each other's company. Their eyes fell on her and they immediately grinned, running up to her.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! What happened!? Are you okay!? Sasuke-bastard told me that you were in a coma sort of sleep, and that you were gonna take, like, a week to wake up, but- but you just woke up all of a sudden, and it's so stupid because Shisui just lied to us saying that you knocked over an IV tube and were a hospital slave and-"

"Woah, calm down there, Naruto." She interrupted, blinking. "Yes, I was in a comatose state. I don't know why I woke up, though." She lied, and Naruto sent a look to Sasuke.

"Huh. You were actually right for once, Sasuke-teme." He insulted, earning a scathing look and a punch to the gut from Sasuke. "Brooding bastard." Naruto muttered, wincing through the pain.

"What was that, Usuratonkachi?" Sasuke muttered back, voice low and as menacing as a seven-year-old's could get.

"Don't fight, please. My head hurts enough as it is..." Sakura requested, receiving worried looks right after her statement. She wasn't lying. She had a migraine - and it hurt like a bitch.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan! I didn't know-"

"Sasuke-chan?" A familiar motherly voice cut in, and Sakura turned to see Mikoto, Sasuke's mother, behind them.

"I told you not to call me that in front of my friends." Sasuke mumbled, embarrassed, the tips of his ears red and his cheeks flushed. A pleasant laugh made it's way out of Mikoto's mouth and she looked towards Sakura, her grin growing.

"Oh hello, Sakura-chan, dear." Mikoto smiled, lookly slightly surprised and in awe. "I thought you were in the hospital? We received a letter that told us about..." She trailed off, realising that Sakura understood.

"Yeah, I don't really understand myself. I just woke up all of a sudden, and that was it." Sakura shrugged with a friendly grin, playing it off. Mikoto smiled.

"Oh, well I am sure that Shisui-kun will be happy to see you up and running so soon!" Mikoto giggled, a hand covering her mouth and eyes twinkling in the sunlight. "Oh, as a matter of fact, why don't you join us for dinner tonight? I'm sure Itachi-kun and my husband wouldn't mind." At the mention of Itachi, Sakura grimaced. That would be awkward. She couldn't just turn her polite attempts at socialising down, however, so she simply smiled and nodded.

"That would be lovely, Mikoto-san." She replied, and was about to ask whether Naruto could join, before Sasuke beat her to it.

"What about Naruto?" He questioned, and Sakura didn't miss the way Mikoto's eyes widened a fraction before they settled on Naruto, who was stood behind Sakura. Being the shortest, she hadn't actually seen him.

Naruto noticed her eyes on him, and immediately faltered, expecting a dirty look or horrid comment. When nothing came, he beamed at her in an effort to seem friendly, causing Mikoto's eyes to swell up with tears. The resemblance between mother and son was uncanny, and Mikoto wasn't ready to see her again just yet...

But for Kushina's sake, she blinked away her tears and beamed back.

"Of course! Naruto may join us aswell." Mikoto smiled, and took joy in the way Naruto's grin wasn't pained any more, but genuine.

"Thanks, old- uh, pretty lady!" Naruto told her, causing Mikoto to chuckle and Sasuke send him an irritated glare.

"That's quite alright, dear." She nodded towards Naruto, and then turned to crouch in front of Sasuke and smiled gently. "Go off and play, now, but please bring them by in an hour or so." Sasuke nodded, and then creased his brow in worry.

"Will father be home?" He asked, and Mikoto sent a compassionate glance his way, indicating that she understood his concern.

"He will only be home for dinner, Sasuke-chan. Endure him for a while and then he will be off again." Mikoto explained, brushing a strand of Sasuke's hair behind his ear and planting a soft kiss on his head before standing up again. "See you soon!" She waved, walking off, humming a nice melody.

Sakura pivoted towards Sasuke, her rosy lips upturned in a gentle gesture. Sasuke raised an eyebrow in silent question, wondering why she was smiling.

"Your okaa-san is too nice, Sasuke." She complimented, to which he shrugged his shoulders.

"I just thought all mothers were like that." He replied. Sakura shook her head, her smile still in place.

"My kaa-san is...similar, but not all mothers are like that." Sakura explained, and she saw Sasuke turn to Naruto.

"Naruto, what are your parents like-?"

"Ah- Sasuke. Don't." Sakura abruptly cut off, but it was too late. Naruto's previously enchanting beam had faltered. Sasuke sent a confused glance towards Sakura, obviously not realising his blunder.

"Uh, y-yeah. I- I don't have parents." Naruto coughed awkwardly, and Sakura watched as Sasuke's eyes widened, the penny dropping.

"Uh-I'm sorry-"

"You don't have to pretend to lick my ass, Teme. It's fine. I get 'I'm sorry' way too much." Naruto scolded, and Sasuke recoiled in surprise. "Honestly, I didn't even know them anyway, so I can't say that I love them. Obviously they're my parents 'n all, but I don't know them, so I don't need to feel sad for them. I don't know what a parent even _does_." Sakura heart heaved in sadness when those words came out of his mouth, and only then did she realise how privileged she was to have the luxury of parents.

"Okay, Naruto." Sakura sighed softly in defeat, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe we should just go to the park, now." Sakura suggested. But before Naruto or Sasuke could answer, an ANBU appeared in a cloud of smoke in front of them.

He overlooked Sasuke and Naruto, his eyes lingering on Sakura; namely her pink hair. Breaking the silence, he spoke.

"Sakura Haruno?" He questioned, a familiar tone but still somewhat unrecognisable, to which Sakura nodded warily. "Hokage-sama requests your presence." He bowed, before disappearing once more.

Sakura turned to Sasuke and Naruto, her expression radiating confusion and surprise, but nonetheless indifference.

"Change of plans, then. I'll meet up with you both later," Sakura corrected, and then waved. "Ja ne, you two!" She sprinted off down the street towards the Hokage's tower.

After arriving, receiving a lot of odd stares as she raced towards here, her hand gently rested upon the mahogany wood of the giant door in front of her. She raised her hand to knock, before the Hokage cut her short,

"Come in, Sakura," He called, to which she politely obliged. Upon entering, she bowed fully, sending him a gentle smile which he gladly returned. "Thank you for coming on such short notice." Sakura merely nodded.

"May I ask why I have been summoned, Hokage-sama?" She questioned, her voice never wavering in confidence.

"It has come to my attention that you wish to attend Konoha's ninja academy a year early; am I correct?" Hiruzen quizzed, Sakura humming in confirmation. "I have called you here today to discuss the means of which you wish to attend. There are a few spaces available, and I would like to ask whether you would be okay attending in approximately a week?"

Sakura opened her mouth to agree, but clamped it shut when she remembered her promise to Naruto.

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama," She started, clearing her throat awkwardly. "I would like to request something. I would be honoured to attend, but I would like to request that Naruto may attend with me aswell?" Hiruzen's relaxed face tensed a bit.

"I could...see to it that the elders will _consider_ him, but I can make no promise that they will accept your proposal." The Hokage offered, to which Sakura raised a delicate eyebrow.

"I thought that the Hokage had power over the elders?" She rhetorically questioned, her voice holding an accusing tone. The Hokage sighed.

"That is true. However, if all of the elders refuse your request, I will have no choice but to turn you down aswell." He explained, voice soft. Sakura felt her jaw tightening and her brow furrowing in anger.

"And why would they have any reason to refuse?" Sakura questioned, knowing full well the answer to that.

"He is not a clan kid. He would have no one to back him u-"

"I am not a clan kid, and yet you are offering me this position." Sakura retorted, her voice laced with confusion, fury and justice.

The Hokage's eyes hid calculating judgement behind them as he looked down upon her. He had heard from his ANBU what she was capable of, and it would be a shame if she were not to climb the ranks earlier than most.

Despite his thoughts, his ageing eyes suddenly sparkled with something - pride, maybe? - and he smiled at her with a new sense of gratification.

"Very well," He gave in, nodding contently. Sakura's mood immediately lightened. "I will bring this up with the elders. Even if he is rejected, he will always be able to join next year."

"I have high hopes that he won't be rejected, so there is no need to be thinking about what would happen if so. If any of them have half of a brain, they will greatly consider what I ask of them." The last part she muttered, but Hiruzen's eyes danced with mirth as he looked on, amused at the little girl who didn't seem to fear punishment in exchange for retribution at all. "I will look forward to be hearing your answer, Hokage-sama." She bowed slightly, but not all of the way.

He almost laughed. A few days ago, she was shouting at Naruto for acting so familiar in his presence, but now she was doing the same. However, he didn't mind in the slightest. Hiruzen softly smiled at her.

"Of course, Sakura. I will notify you of our decision once it has been made." He nodded, and took joy in the way her face lit up with hope as she grinned. "I hope that you have a nice day."

"Well I hope that you have a nice _week!_ " She exclaimed happily, and this time, Hiruzen did chuckle. "Goodbye, Hokage-sama!" She beamed, as his chuckling increased. He waved her off, and she disappeared from his office.

When he was sure that she was gone, he turned to the darkest corner of his room and smiled.

"How are you suspicious of her? She's so sweet." Hiruzen asked, seemingly to nothing, until an ANBU stepped out of the shadows. He was rather short, his black hair pooling down his back in an elegant ponytail.

"Hokage-sama," The ANBU greeted, to which Hiruzen smiled. "I apologise if my suspicion has offended you in any way. I would like you to remember that I am a very cautious person, and she is friends with my otouto."

"Yes, yes, Itachi. I get it." Hiruzen chuckled, waving a hand dismissively. "But I will ask that you leave her be for now - let her get used to Konoha first before you bombard her with questions, ne?" Itachi bowed quickly.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. I will give her time." Itachi replied, his ponytail falling over his shoulder as he bowed. Hiruzen blew out the smoke from his pipe and gestured for Itachi to look up. Itachi complied.

"You are so stiff sometimes, Itachi. You can't let work affect you that much." Hiruzen shook his head in a disapproving manner. "Try and befriend Sakura, okay? Have a little fun. Maybe if you gain her trust, she will tell you things willingly _without_ you trying to traumatise her."

Itachi creased his brow as he considered what Hiruzen had said. She _was_ close with his little brother, so maybe he could count on her to protect him. He bowed.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Itachi responded, before exiting the building; a whole other subject on his mind.

What _was_ he to do about that little girl?

* * *

Yay! Chapter done! Thank you all for your reviews, even if they're mainly there just to correct me on something - they _are_ appreciated, no sarcasm!

Also, there are some things I'd like to clear up. First of all, why am I doing this story?

*SPOILERS - RANTING BELOW ABOUT SAKURA'S APPARENT 'USELESSNESS' AND EVERYTHING ELSE*

Because Naruto's plotline is shit and unfair. The injustice to characters with major potential is just fucking stupid, but Kishimoto wants to just focus on Naruto and his precious Sasuke-kun. Four protagonists (imo) Naruto (obviously), Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura. Team 7. Makes sense, right? Now who's the one on there who has the most generic fucking backstory ever? You'll never guess. But let me line them up;

Kakashi's mother dies during childbirth, and then his father committed fucking suicide when he was eight. He graduated at FIVE and had a transplanted sharingan, became an amazing ninja, sixth Hokage, made it into the bingo book and is a renowned legend. His father was the legendary Konoha's White Fang, Sakumo Hatake.

Let's move on to Sasuke. Girl magnet. "Omggg so hotttt." His whole clan was slaughtered when he was merely seven years old by his own brother. He lived on with possible trauma and PTSD and swore revenge on his brother. Left the village after getting a curse mark and trained with Orochimaru, somehow becoming fucking OP. Has the sharingan and from one of the most influential and strongest clans in Konoha, the sharingan being fucking OP with OP powers and shit. His father was Fugaku Uchiha, clan head, so a pretty famous guy. Heir to the Uchihas. Oh, did I mention he's FUCKING INDRA OTSUTSUKI'S REINCARNATION!?

Ohoho. Naruto. We all know his past. Parents are Kushina Uzumaki, amazing kunoichi, legendary, and Minato Namikaze, Third Hokage and fucking boss as shit. He grew up an outcast, everyone hated him, blah blah blah. Cliché as fuck. Then BOOM he's got a literal fucking BEAST inside of him that helps him whenever the fuck? Suddenly a hero because he saved the world. Plot armour galore, can beat anyone, even a fucking god and goddess. (Yes, that happened. Kaguya and Pein, remember them?) Sickkk man, he's fucking unstoppable, can go sage mode and everything n shit. Yeah. The most OP person ever. Oh yeah, AND HE'S ASHURA OTSUTSUKI'S REINCARNATION :)

Now, the one, the only, Sakura Haruno. She got bullied because of her forehead (that didn't even look big at all, the fuck?) and...um, yeah. That's it. Who were her parents again? Kishi turns her into a fangirl for Chicken arse and has her be the most annoying thing ever and then DOUBLE BOOM SHE'S STRONG IN SHIPPUDEN. Basically Tsunade number 2, killed an akatsuki with the help of his granny lol

But, alas, Kishimoto fails to realise that she can be something amazing too and has her stuck in that endless circle of sucking Sasuke off because Sasuke's _just that fucking cool._ She saved Chiyo (which also saved Gaara, the Kazekage) AND everyone he saved after that since he wouldn't have been alive without her. Saved Naruto, and BEFORE you say 'oh no she was just keeping him alive till Gaara transported them to get him REALLY saved, he still would've died without the transplant' I'll have you know that without Gaara, they wouldn't have gotten there, (WHO SAKURA SAVED) AND if she didn't keep him alive he would've died anyway. Saved Sasuke, (and Naruto again...she has saved Naruto multiple fucking times) by healing them when they blasted each other's arms off like fucking idiots, and everyone that he saved in the aftermath. Saved Hinata, Kankuro (made an antidote to SASORI - who is a POISON EXPERT - in like 5 minutes), everyone in the hospital that she's healed, and, honestly, I lose track of how many people she's saved.

And yet, people still seem to hate her. Why? Because she punches Naruto? Slapstick comedy, my guy. Common in Japan. Try again. She's useless? Hardly. People forget that she's a medic before a fighter, and only gained the right to be a frontline medic after surpassing Tsunade, so of course she wouldnt jump straight into a fight, which people seem to base her 'uselessness' off of. She doesn't have a bloodline like Sasuke or Kakashi, or a fucking tailed beast like Naruto - and she knows that. If she gets hit, it could be the end for her. And wow, because she gets saved she's _useless_? I would go into a cardiac arrest if I had to name off every single USEFUL character that has gotten saved in Naruto, which includes, dun dun dun...NARUTO HIMSELF. Is HE useless? Fuck no. People just don't want to acknowledge that she actually grew after Naruto, and became decent in Shippuden.

My point is; Kishimoto does not know at all how to write heroines in the slightest. Take literally any other female in Naruto, for example. The most developed and strongest out of all of them is Sakura, yet she's also the most hated. But all the men get the cool shit. The fucking Uchihas and the fucking Jinchuurikis...and Naruto, because he's just an anomaly.

If these guys are allowed to have so much cool shit, why the fuck can't Sakura? And that's what this fanfic's about, bitch. I will show him how to write a fucking good female protagonist so fuck you, Kishi. But I'll also try not to make her too OOC. But thats the good thing about Sakura. Her personality is so diverse and all of the place that you could write her like anything - loyal, lovestruck, strict, scared, fearless, indifferent, etc. - and it would make sense. It wouldn't seem weird. So thanks, I guess, for at least _that_ , Kishimoto.

Sorry for the swearing, I'm slightly convinced that I have ranting issues. But thank you for reading this far, and I hope that you enjoyed!

Reviewing would be majorly appreciated, so please, please do! Even a few words is enough to make my day!


	16. Chapter 16

After Sakura left the Hokage's tower, she made haste back to the playground where she'd knew the two boys would be, to find Naruto and Sasuke. When she got there, she found Naruto and Sasuke squabbling next to a rather bored-looking Shikamaru and an infatuated Yamanaka, sighing dreamily at Sasuke. Sakura noted that Choji was not present.

The blonde female immediately recognised Sakura's head of pink hair and shot up like a rocket. Her grin was radiating happiness, and she didn't bother to tell Sasuke or Naruto that Sakura had arrived before waving her over excitedly.

"Sakura-chan! It's so nice to see you again!" The hyperactive girl greeted before gathering Sakura in a wholesome hug. Sakura smiled sweetly at Ino, hugging back with half of the force.

"Hey, Ino. It's nice to see you again, too." Sakura met Ino's blinding grin with one of her own and Ino practically bounced with excitement.

She saw the other three males' heads poke up when Ino called her over, and she was suddenly tackled into another hug by another over-affectionate blue-eyed blond.

"Sakura-chaaan!" Naruto whined when she pulled away, fixing her glare with a pout. "I missed you."

Sakura raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"I was gone for, like, fifteen minutes." She pointed out, her eyes dancing with mirth. Naruto dragged his hands down his face, dramatically groaning.

"Fifteen minutes is too long when you're stuck with a bastard like him." Naruto jabbed Sasuke in the ribs, only to be met with a hiss and a smack on the head by the Uchiha. Sasuke's anger dwelled down and he turned to meet Sakura's emerald eyes.

"What did they say to you when that ANBU came to pick you up and take you to the Hokage?" Sasuke asked innocently, his curiosity not covered very well. Sakura narrowed her eyes accusingly when she saw random adults around her seem to take interest, leaning closer to the conversation.

"Sometimes I wonder if your mouth is bigger than Naruto's." She murmured to him, earning an indignant yell of protest from Sasuke and an offended ' _Oi!_ ' from Naruto. She lowered her voice a little so that only her friends could hear, but not too secretive. "Well, Hokage-sama wants me to start the academy a year early, but I know that Naruto would have wanted to come with me, so I put in the request that we go together." Sasuke lifted his eyebrow at her.

"You put in the request for Naruto but not me?" Sasuke questioned, and she cursed herself for forgetting about Sasuke. Her worries were cut short when he dismissively waved his hands about and proclaimed, "It's fine. I could still get in a year early if I wanted. I _am_ an Uchiha, after all." He sounded almost smug.

"Being an Uchiha doesn't make you better than everyone else, Teme." Naruto snarled at Sasuke. Sakura happily had to admit that she agreed with Naruto. Sasuke's head whipped around to face Naruto, and an intense glaring match proceeded. Sakura swore she could see sparks fly between where their eyes met. She decided to let them have at it, and talk to her other friends.

"So, where's Choji?" Sakura asked Ino and Shikamaru. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but...I was kind of under the impression that you three were best friends." Under Shikamaru's lazy but scrutinising gaze, she resorted back to her usual habit and self-consciously played with a strand of her hair.

"He had some clan business to deal with." Ino explained, waving a hand in front of her. "And yeah, we're best friends, aren't we, Shikamaru?" She slung an arm around said boy, who immediately flung it off again.

"You wish." He rolled his eyes, jabbing a thumb into his chest. " _I_ only came with you to get away from my otou-san. He was being rather troublesome this morning." Ino looked crestfallen, faking to wipe away her tears and sniff.

"How mean," She sighed, but nonetheless turned back to Sakura, good as new, a smile adorning her features. "Wanna come with me to the flower field over there? I can teach you some things about flower meanings. Plus, I'd like to get away from this stupid idiot _Naruto_."

"I'm not a stupid idiot!" Naruto protested, folding his arms as Ino looked over him with doubt.

"Oh, please. We all know that you're the biggest knucklehead this place has," Ino scoffed, but smiled good-naturedly at him afterwards. "But, anyway, at least let me have some fun with Sakura-chan. I haven't gotten along with girls in a long time. She's, like, my first girl friend, I guess. I want to do girly things with her." Sasuke snickered.

"I doubt she wants to do girly things with _you."_ He jeered. Ino flushed incredibly, looking a little hurt, so Sakura decided to step in.

"As a matter of fact, Sasuke, I _do_ want to do girly things with her. So if you don't mind," Ignoring how silly she had sounded, Sakura linked arms with Ino and pulled her up, "We will be going. We'll meet you back here later."

She saw Ino's face light up with content as she followed Sakura into the field opposite the park. They sat down in the grass and Ino spoke up.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan." She whispered, too quiet for her usually flamboyant personality. Sakura merely grinned whole-heartedly back at her.

"No problem, Ino." Sakura responded, brushing a strand of her own pink hair behind her ear before playfully nudging Ino's arm with her own. "You know what they say. Us girls gotta stick together, right?" Ino grinned in reply, cheeks reddening slightly with happiness.

Sakura then hesitantly picked the closest flower next to her, which happened to be a pink cyclamen with a white fade, and held it out to Ino. She watched Ino's face morph into confusion before turning to understanding, then amusement as she quietly snickered into her hand. Sakura suddenly felt self-conscious, her cheeks heating up in embarrassment.

"What?" Sakura mumbled, torn between continuing to offer the flower for her to take, or just abandoning the idea of giving it to her in the first place.

She watched as Ino took the flower out of her hands and tossed it to the side, much to Sakura's surprise. Ino was quick to explain, however,

"It seems like you need to be in for a little lesson of 'flower meanings'," Ino snickered again, and Sakura paled, hoping that the meaning of the flower she had just given her wasn't too bad. "I chucked it away because I'm hoping that you won't have to give me that flower anytime soon. They're normally used for permanent goodbyes, and they mean seperation."

"A-ah, sorry..." Sakura sheepishly apologised, earning another laugh from Ino.

"It's fine, Sakura-chan, honestly!" Ino told her, and Sakura suddenly felt like what Naruto must do whenever he does something wrong to her and feels the need to apologise.

Ino looked around the field, tapping her chin thoughtfully before perking uo and plucking a yellow flower next to her. She held it out to Sakura, who willingly took it, trusting her new friend's judgement.

"That is a celandine," Ino explained with a fond smile, picking daisies in front of her. "It means forthcoming joys, or to put it simply, we'll have good memories together in the future."

Sakura's face was all smiles; she just couldn't help it. Ino was so nice, how come she didn't have any other girl friends? Abandoning her thoughts, Sakura turned to her right, spotting an edelweiss and snatching it up, holding it in front of Ino.

"What does this one mean?"

"Bravery."

Sakura plucked a dandelion.

"And this one?"

"Happiness."

Sakura then plucked a gillyflower.

"How about this one?"

"Lasting beauty."

And so the game went on for a while, with Ino explaining to Sakura the meanings of certain flowers, and also which ones were poisonous and which weren't, and how you could use that to your advantage. Sakura had to admit that she enjoyed Ino explaining the poisonous flowers more than she did the meanings. Ino told Sakura that she worked in a flower shop, so this sort of stuff was just common sense to her.

They made daisy chains; Ino offering to braid them into Sakura's hair, and Sakura braid hers. It was silly.

But it was also the most genuine that Sakura had felt in a while.

Sakura realized that she had been zoning out when a hand softly landed on her shoulder and Ino's voice cut through her state of mind.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, you okay?" Ino asked, her hands freezing mid-way through another daisy chain as she stopped to look at her. Sakura glanced down, looking over her now destroyed daisy chain, frowing.

"Ah, yeah. Sorry, I was just thinking. About...stuff." Sakura told Ino, shaking her head, insinuating that she shouldn't worry about it. In their short time spent together, Sakura had learned that Ino could also have a teasing nature, as shown by the plotting smirk and suggestive raised eyebrow that Ino was now sporting.

"What were you thinking about? Boys?" Ino grinned, leaning into Sakura eagerly. Sakura looked at her nervously, her eyes looking back and forth from her, confused.

"Um, no?" Sakura meekly replied, and she heard Ino giggle.

"Well, you do have a really cute boy following you around!" Ino enthusiastically pointed out, blushing and nodding her chin towards Sasuke who was perched on the opposite end of the field with the other two boys. Sakura frowned.

"We're just friends." Sakura tried defending, her brow furrowed, but Ino sighed exasperatedly, laying on her back.

"Of course you are," Ino snickered, playfully punching Sakura on the arm with a smirk, "You just don't want to admit that he's a looker." She winked. Sakura grimaced.

"Ew. No. That's weird. I've only known him for a little under a week." Sakura rolled her eyes at the blonde, who pouted in dejection. "Plus, he's a boy. Boys are gross." Sakura blew a raspberry on her palm, pretending to gag, causing Ino to giggle.

"I know, right!? You don't know how disgusting Choji is, eating all of the time. He's basically the human embodiment of a pig, munching away on anything he can get his fat, grubby hands on," Ino vented, ripping daisies out of the ground in frustration, her behaviour showcasing a completely different argument than what she was implying beforehand, "You would expect someone that eats so much to have atleast decent table manners, but no! The only thing that he has is a lot of weight to lose!" Sakura had to literally swallow down the contagious laughter that was threatening to make a passage.

 _This girl,_ Sakura mused inside her head with a small giggle escaping.

 _ **Make her your best friend,**_ Suijin chimed in, with a sing-song voice, inside of her head. Sakura clutched her head a little, cursing.

 _Suijin, that hurts!_ Sakura berated, to which he sighed.

 _ **It's so sad how you want me to leave so quickly, Sakura-chan**_ , he whined, _**but okay. I'll leave. See ya'!**_

 _Quickly, please,_ she mentally hissed at him.

"Sakura-chan, you alright?" Ino asked once more, not fully convinced of her friend's well-being.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a migraine, Ino-chan." Sakura smiled sweetly at Ino, who's eyes softened at being addressed with a friendly honorific. The softening of Ino's eyes quickly became devilish, a sardonic smirk crawling onto her mouth.

"Hey, Sakura-chan," Ino addressed, her eyes sparkling with something akin to mischief. "Wanna go prank the boys?"

Ino pointed a slender finger in the direction of the three males, who, surprisingly, were looking at both of them. When Sakura and Ino turned to meet their gazes, they quickly reverted their eyes. Sakura joined in on Ino's smirking.

"What are you thinking, Ino-chan?" Sakura grinned, her mind already full of ways to fuck them over big time. However, she would have to store those plots away for the time being, as she thought that Ino may have a slightly more lenient idea in mind.

Sakura had to remember that they were friends; and you did not have full-out war with your friends...Besides Haname. But Haname could survive.

"Well...I need you to do that thing you did to the sticks to make them flags on this," Ino held up a flower, grinning. "Turn it into a knife."

Sakura paled. Okay, maybe Ino _was_ a little crazy and _did_ want full-out war.

"You mean genjutsu? I could try...my genjutsu's not the best, though. The only reason I could turn those sticks into flags is because I've done it many times before," Sakura explained, watching as Ino deflated a little from her friend's words. "But I'll try." Ino grinned again, holding out the flower.

Sakura performed a few hand signs, before the flower wavered a little and turned into a kunai. It dissipated quickly, however, much to Sakura's frustration. She growled, and tried again. The genjutsu was stronger this time, and did not fade away as quick. Sakura grinned, pleased with her success. She would ignore the fact that the genjutsu was easy to sense due to the fact that her friend's had barely entered the academy yet, and probably didn't even know how to dispel it.

"Wow, that's awesome!" Ino exclaimed, clutching the kunai with twinkling eyes. "But what is it? It's not a knife. It looks like a dagger..."

"It's a kunai," Sakura corrected, smiling at her friend's amazed reaction. She wasn't that good at genjutsu, but she would happily take the praise anyway. "And tell me what your plan is, quick. We have about five minutes until that genjutsu dispels itself." Ino's eyes comically widened, and she fumbled towards Sakura's ear to whisper the plan. Sakura couldn't imagine how evil her expression probably looked at that moment, smirking like a maniac at the plot.

"Got it?" Ino questioned, to which Sakura nodded in confirmation.

"I feel bad, but it'll be so worth it to see their faces." Sakura giggled, bounding over to Ino who had already started walking towards Sasuke, Naruto and Shikamaru. "Besides, if they really care about me, I guess we'll get a good reaction." Ino nodded in agreement.

As they neared the three boys, Naruto's ranting became coherent. Sasuke took on a look of irritance, and Shikamaru looked like he couldn't care less what Naruto was screaming about.

"-probably doesn't even like you anyway, Teme." Sakura heard Naruto growl.

"I don't care if she doesn't, but she obviously _does_ like me better, Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke retorted, snarling, before folding his arms defiantly.

"...Troublesome." She heard Shikamaru sigh under his breath, before their eyes met. Sakura gave a brief smile, to which he nodded his head familiarly in return.

"Hey, guys." Sakura called out, attempting to conceal her massive grin. She could hear Ino snickering lightly behind her.

Sasuke and Naruto's heads quickly snapped towards her, eyes wide with surprise and shock, before Naruto awkwardly gulped and replied,

"H-hey, Sakura-chan." A light pink dusted his whiskered cheeks, embarrassed. Sakura frowned. Why was there any need to be embarrassed? Or maybe he was flustered?

She cut off her train of thought when Sasuke grunted back to her, aswell. Sakura chuckled evilly under her breath - the plan was about to commence.

"So, I was wondering if-"

"SAKURA!" Ino raged behind her, stomping towards the girl. Sakura feigned surprise, turning towards her.

"Ino-chan? Is...everything okay?" Sakura replied, confusion written on her face. The boys were even more confused.

"How dare you ditch me like that!" Ino screamed, holding something behind her back. "I oughta teach you a lesson, Forehead!" Sakura winced. Ouch. Even if they were acting, Sakura didn't think she was going to bring Ami's nickname into it.

"Ino-chan, what are you-?" Sakura cut herself off with a gasp as Ino pulled the kunai out in front of her. Naruto and Sasuke jumped up, surprised. Shikamaru was watching them with a suspicious eye.

Sakura refused to grin at his expression. Did he know?

With no warning, Ino lunged forward, seemingly plunging the _'kunai'_ into Sakura's stomach. Sakura grunted in fake pain, doubling over, coughing. She saw out of the corner of her eye, Sasuke scream in anger and confusion.

What caught her eye the most was Naruto's blank expression, however. He was watching with - shock, maybe? But his face was frozen, as if he didn't know what to do. Sakura was about to laugh and reveal that it was a prank, when the sudden tension in the atmosphere made her freeze, too.

She could feel...Kurama's chakra signature?

Her eyes darting back to Naruto, she noted the red aura suddenly surrounding him. Her eyes widened.

 _Oh no. What is Kurama doing!?_ She screamed internally.

 _ **Sakura-chan, show them it's a joke, quick!**_ Suijin yelled back at her, and she gladly obliged.

Nervously chuckling, she presented the unaffected daisy infront of her.

"Haha, got you guys!" She grinned, although it was somewhat frightened and lopsided. The tension in the air immediately disappeared, as did Naruto's red aura. "It was a prank!"

Ino was crying with laughter, rolling on the floor, exclaiming, "You should've seen your faces!"

Sasuke sighed in relief, sitting back down on the floor, the adrenaline settling down. His heartbeat was rapid, so he tried to calm it down by sitting silently.

"You two are idiots." Sasuke hissed, and Sakura frowned.

They were idiots. What would've happened to Naruto if she didn't show them that it was a prank? The killing intent he had been giving out was enormous, however only those who could've sensed it would've been affected.

Sniffling suddenly caught her attention, and she turned to see Naruto, furiously rubbing at his eyes.

"Naruto, are you okay?" Sakura asked, moving forward to gather him in a hug. He squeezed hard back.

"You scared me, Sakura-chan!" He sobbed into her shoulder, and Sakura couldn't help the grimace that took over her face. This prank had not gone how she had wanted it to. "Never ever do that again, okay?"

Sakura could only nod, silent.

 _Yeah, never doing that again,_ Sakura mumbled internally, face pale. _I think I'll leave the pranking to Naruto in the future._

They stood there for a while in embrace, the only sound being the rustling of the leaves, before Naruto pulled away. He turned to Shikamaru.

"Why didn't you do anything, anyway? You just sat there!" Naruto growled, irritation clear on his tanned face. Shikamaru shifted slightly, and it took Sakura a moment to realise that was his version of a shrug.

"I'm not an idiot, like you two," Shikamaru insulted, motioning towards were Sasuke and Naruto were seated, resulting in being the recipient of twin scowls, "I know that Ino isn't that stupid. She's the heiress to one of our founding clans, she would surely know the repercussions for doing something so malicious. Besides, I haven't seen her that happy about having a girl being friendly to her in a while, she wouldn't just go and stab them out of nowhere. She throws temper tantrums when people don't give her attention, but she'd never do something so reckless. That would make it troublesome for all of us."

Ino clapped her hands together, grinning fondly, her short blonde hair waving slightly in the wind.

"Aww, thanks Shika! That's sweet that you think I'm not stupid." She furiously nodded, grin still intact. Ino slid an arm over Sakura, leaning in her ear to whisper, "Told you we were best friends. He loves me, but he doesn't wanna admit it." Sakura snickered, and Shikamaru rolled his eyes in exhasperation.

"I'm not stupid." Sasuke growled in response to Shikamaru's earlier insult, accompanied with a juvenile pout.

 ** _Let that hate go. It was like five minutes ago,_** She heard Suijin mutter from inside. She rolled her eyes as she heard Naruto take his opportunity at getting a jab in at Sasuke.

"Yes you are, Teme." Naruto mumbled, but coherent enough for Sasuke to catch what he had said. Sasuke clenched his fists at his sides, and Sakura could feel the heat of an upcoming argument.

"Hell, you're one to talk, Usuratonkachi! I'm super smart!" Sasuke gloated, infuriating the blonde boy even further.

"Oh, yeah?" Naruto rhetorically questioned, raising an insulting eyebrow. "Who told you that? Your _mom?"_

And with that, the two dissolved into mindless bickering and arguing. Sakura was at least relieved that they had so easily moved past what had just happened. She seemed to forget that they were due for something when Sasuke suddenly flinched, the anger disappearing from his face as he turned pale.

"We're gonna be late for dinner." He deadpanned.

Sakura blanched.

Shit.

Naruto suddenly started sprinting toward the Uchiha compound, a confused Sasuke and deeply in-thought Sakura left behind. He turned, cupping his mouth to yell back over to them,

"What are you waiting for!? We gotta get there now-"

"Bye Ino-chan, bye Shikamaru!" Sakura quickly yelled, grabbing Sasuke's collar and shunshinning towards Naruto to grab his collar.

She watched Ino wave back at her, sadly. Sakura took a deep breath. She had tried shunshinning long distances before, but it hadn't gone very well. She could atleast make it to the gates, couldn't she?

Quicker than Sasuke and Naruto could say anything in protest, she shunshinned back to the Uchiha gates.

And she immediately felt sick.

That was not a good idea.

* * *

Okay, okay. I have some explaining to do. I feel like shit that I haven't put out another chapter yet, but I can explaiiin!

Also, I didn't really like this chapter. I was cringing when I wrote it out, but I needed some filler before the plot comes in.

Anyway, back to it. So, I have good news anyway, and I hope that it'll make up for the fact that I haven't updated in over a month. I have the next four and a half chapters done and edited! I also went back to every single previous chapter and did some editing, fixing the things that I didn't like. So, you can go back and re-read all of the updated chapters if you want to, but nothing major has been changed, so for those who don't want to go back and read, you should be fine.

I also have a document full of ideas for this story, so I know what I want to lead this plot up to. The document is literally 13,000+ words long of just ideas and the plotline to this story, and I'm quite happy with the direction its going in. **Spoilers:** Some of you will be annoyed with me concerning future plans for this, but some of you who like a 'badass, dark Sakura' will love it. BUT DON'T WORRY! She's morally good throughout the whole of the story, it's just sort of an 'undercover mission' for her.

That, and I have future Sakura-centric stories in the making. I am not publishing them until I finish this story, however, because finishing this is my main priority. I am merely making an 'idea' document and adding ideas for the story, much like I am with this. It's just me writing out the plotline and writing a couple of scenes here and there.

'Jinchuuriki Sakura' - a Sakura-centric where Sakura is the Kyuubi container is one of the stories I am working on, however I have not made a good title or summary to it yet.

The second story I am working on is personally my favourite, and I have made a few summaries (from which I am choosing which will be the best concerning the plotline) and a good title. It is a Sasusaku/Sakura-centric. The title is 'Goddess of War; Sakura' and the summaries I am choosing between are: "In which Sakura is the Goddess of War, has yet to be accustomed to Earth's strange ways, and swears revenge on the mass-murderer who killed everyone back on Olympus and banished her away. Sakura-centric"

or

"Sasuke wasn't sure what he was expecting that week. But was it for a pink-haired woman to fall from the sky in a fireball and claim to be the Goddess of War? Of course not. He and his closest friends quickly found themselves being dragged into otherworldly affairs in which everyone on Olympus had been slaughtered by an evil man. This goddess introduces herself as Sakura, and asks for their help to get back to her homeworld to enact her revenge on the traitorous mass-murderer. Sakura-centric"

So what do you think? I just fucking love a fantasy AU where Sakura is the mysterious and powerful one, so I just had to write this. It has the best plot and story line I've ever written, so this'll be the first story I'll publish when I'm done with this one. I have loads of scenes and the plot written out. Could any of you review and tell em which summary you like better and would be more inclined to read? It would help a lot!

The next story is labelled 'Akatsuki Sakura' as I don't have a proper title for it yet, and is where Konan finds a baby Sakura and it just kinda goes on from there. None of that _'cute'_ baby Sakura x Akatsuki bullshit, only a few scenes where they interact with a baby Sakura and then Konan trains her. She joins Akatsuki when she is around twelve and is put with Itachi. It then follows her going on missions and shit, and then we get into drama where she meets the Jinchuurikis and they have beef with Konoha, and I honestly love this story too. It just presents an idea of what Sakura would be like having grown up on the dark side - and she's not necesssarily evil, as she doesn't agree with a lot of what Akatsuki is doing. It's just sorta wars and her fighting Konoha shinobi n dat.

The rest of the stories I have on hold are simply ideas, and I may not post them at all, even if I have written a lot of scenes for them.

They are; 'Sakura Senju' - Tsunade adopts Sakura when she is six and Sakura is the Senju heiress. Itachi is 6, Shisui is 10, Sakura is 12 and Kakashi is 15 - so a major age change for Sakura. She's eleven years older than she is in canon.

The other is called 'Sakura in Wonderland'. Another fantasy AU. Shisui is the white rabbit, Naruto is the cheshire cat, Sasuke is the mad hatter etc... but it has a different plot than the original Alice in Wonderland adaption, so yeah.

Another is a Romeo and Juliet sasusaku fanfic where the Senju are the Capulets and the Uchiha are the montagues. Tsunade is Sakura's mother. I thought it made sense becuse the Senju and Uchiha hate each other anyway, so...yeah.

There's no way I'll get them all done, so if it ever gets to the point where I'm just going to give up writing, then I can give away my ideas and everything I've written out for each story and other people can adopt the story and hopefully make it better than I'd ever planned to lol.

Anyway, yeah! Let me hear your thoughts! Every review means so much to me!


	17. Chapter 17

It seems, Sakura noted, as she turned to look at the swaying Sasuke and Naruto, that they were not in tip-top shape either. Naruto was turning green, his cheeks bulged with what appeared to be vomit, and Sasuke was holding his head, leaning from side to side with a dizzy look on his face. Sakura scowled to herself, trying to get over the sudden wave of nausea.

 _Haname could've done it easily,_ Sakura thought bitterly.

Sasuke and Naruto eventually recovered quicker than she did, suddenly dragging her to the Uchiha Head's door.

Sakura abruptly remembered Fugaku and Mikoto's severed heads just lying there, as if the memory was stuck on replay in her head. That made her a little more sick than she was previously. Could she look at him again without puking all over their table and embarrassing herself?

"On second thought, maybe I shouldn't have dinner. I don't feel so well, so let's just go back-"

Attempting to yank herself backwards from Sasuke and Naruto's hold, she backed into something hard. It was then that she sensed the faint chakra signature of Itachi.

She _really_ needed to improve her sensoring skills.

"Otouto." Itachi greeted, and Sakura stiffened as she realised the ' _hard thing_ ' she'd backed into was his chest, as it rumbled against her back. She quickly jumped forward, attempting to mask it as a flinch. Judging by Itachi's indifferent expression, she realised that she had failed in her cover-up.

"Aniki!" Sasuke replied, sounding relieved that he was not the only one bordering _'late'_ for dinner. "I was just taking these two to our house. Kaa-san asked them to come for dinner!"

Itachi nodded in understanding.

"You really need not hurry yourself, Sasuke. You had around ten minutes to get there." Itachi responded with a cocked eyebrow, and Sasuke drooped his head in embarrassment as Naruto.

Sakura glared at him for making them worry. So much for _'late'_. Sakura was merely glaring because she had been pressured into shunshinning so far - speaking of which, she was still suffering a headache from it.

"Hm." Itachi hummed, and then nodded towards Sasuke's house. "I will accompany you there, then. I suspect that okaa-san will already be awaiting your arrival." Sasuke nodded, falling into step behind Itachi once he'd started walking. Sakura and Naruto reluctantly followed.

Sakura had to admit that she was a tiny bit suspicious. Due to parting on...certain circumstances last time with Itachi, she'd expected him to tear into her as soon as he'd saw that she was here. That, however, was not the case. He'd sent her a simple glance, acknowledging her presence, and then continued with easy fluidity and confidence in his words. Anger was not hinted in his voice, merely...acceptance, she supposed?

Shaking her head, Sakura mentally noted that she was not going to treat him bad anymore, anyway. She'd only recently seen to it that he was not the bad guy, which also gave her some insight on what to do when future dreams come along - not to act brash towards people early, and to wait for the full story. Which was another reason she could not mention these dreams to the Hokage. If she'd received false information from her dreams or had merely misinterpreted them, an ally could be on the receiving end of Konoha's brutal methods.

When they arrived at Sasuke's house, it was not Mikoto who answered their knocks. Shisui was the one who answered. He opened the door, opening his mouth to no doubt make a snarky comment to Itachi, but clamped it shut when he saw the familiar head of pink hair lingering in front of him. His expression betrayed his obvious confusion.

"Sakura-chan?" Shisui squeaked. "What- I- When did you get out of the hospital?" Sakura beamed at him.

"A little after you left me in the hospital. Which, by the way, I appreciate. So thanks." Sakura grinned, but her shining aura was suddenly overrode by the dark aura of the youngest Uchiha next to her. She turned to him nervously, to find him staring down his older cousin.

"That reminds me. _You!"_ Sasuke pointed an accusing finger at Shisui, who held his hands up in submission, smiling anxiously. "Why did you lie to me and Naruto!? You didn't tell us she was in a coma!"

"That's because I wasn't in a coma-" Sakura quietly muttered, but her comment went ignored and interrupted.

"Hey! I was making sure you two didn't go on a killing spree!" Shisui defended, his hands on his hips. "Plus, how was I supposed to know she was gonna wake up today? The nurse said it would atleast take a week. Even I'm surprised..."

"Whatever! I'll deal with you later," Sasuke threatened, jumping forward to push past him, eliciting a growl from Shisui. "Now let me in, I'm hungry."

Shisui begrudgingly let him past, his arms folded and shaking his head fondly. Naruto and Sakura hesitantly followed, stopping in the hallway in front of the door. They'd never been in someone else's house before, especially a Clan Head's. Except from Sakura's own. But it's not like she was allowed to disclose such information with them.

Sasuke turned around to face Naruto and Sakura, sensing their obvious discomfort.

"Come on. Kaa-san's in the kitchen." Sasuke told them, before walking over to what they assumed to be the kitchen. Naruto and Sakura sent a quick glance to one another before scurrying off to keep up with Sasuke.

They could smell the dinner from the hallway, and it smelt good. Naruto was practically drooling.

When Sasuke was walking down the hallway with his friend's trailing after him, a deep voice made him freeze and stiffen.

"Sasuke." His father called from the stairwell. Sasuke slowly turned to face him, head lowered slightly in submission. Fugaku, his father, sent a quick look to the blonde and pink-haired before connecting their gaze once more. "I see you've brought...company." He bluntly stated. Sasuke nodded slightly.

"Y-yes. Kaa-san insisted that they join us for dinner, tou-san." Sasuke replied. Sakura couldn't help but curl her lips upwards in a snarl. Was Fugaku so strict that even his own children were scared of him?

"We do hope we aren't imposing too much, Uchiha-sama." Sakura suddenly chimed in, earning a sharp glance from Sasuke that conveyed his concern. Fugaku turned to her, his eyes narrowing as he recognised the girl. Sakura smiled, holding her hand out. "It's nice meeting you on better circumstances, sir." Fugaku eyed her hand for a few moments before taking it, dropping it even quicker. His seemingly permanent scowl made her more uncomfortable than she liked to admit, unfortunately.

"Of course." Is all he said, before pivoting on his heel and making his way into the kitchen.

Sakura couldn't help but notice the incredulous look that Sasuke was giving her.

"What?" She mumbled, narrowing her eyes at him and snapping Sasuke out of his trance. He shook his head quickly, walking into the kitchen.

"Nothing." Sasuke replied. Sakura shook her head, but nonetheless followed him in. She was greeted by Mikoto, who crushed her into a hug as soon as she stepped foot into the kitchen.

"Sakura-chan, you came!" Mikoto exclaimed, hugging her tighter. Sakura's eyes darted to Shisui's to help, but he merely raised a confused eyebrow, mouth slightly agape.

"Mikoto-oba...When were you going to tell me you knew Sakura-chan got released from the hospital?" Shisui questioned his aunt, who jumped and covered her mouth, looking guilty.

"Oh, I completely forgot to tell you!" She admitted, but Shisui shook his head as if to tell her that it didn't matter anymore. Mikoto turned to Naruto, a strained smile painted upon her red-painted lips.

 _For Kushina's sake._

"Thank you for coming too, Naruto-kun!" Mikoto thanked, before pulling Naruto into a sudden hug. If his squeak of surprise hadn't already conveyed the fact that he wasn't expecting it, his face sure did. He reluctantly wrapped his arms around Mikoto, his face content as he buried his face into her shoulder to inhale her motherly scent.

Mikoto pulled away and walked over to the oven, prepping the dinner. The Uchihas took this chance to get seated at the table, Fugaku sitting at the end of the table, Itachi at the other end and Sakura in between Naruto and Sasuke. Shisui sat opposite Sasuke.

"Dinner's ready!" Mikoto sang, placing plates of steaming hot roast chicken in front of their faces. Naruto was drooling now.

"This looks so good, Sasuke's Kaa-chan!" Naruto complimented, and Mikoto giggled, flattered.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. I did wonder if it was a bit too much, but hearing you say that makes me feel much better," Mikoto replied, and then sent him a gentle smile. "And call me Mikoto, dear."

Shisui and Naruto immediately started pummelling their food down their throats, Mikoto looking flattered and Itachi, Sasuke and Fugaku looking horrified by the display. Sakura was holding back snickers.

"You two are disgusting." Sasuke sneered, popping his food in his mouth at a much slower pace.

"Yeah? Well your face is disgusting, Teme!" Naruto retorted, causing Shisui to snort and Sasuke to freeze, his eyes flying to his father's to gauge his reaction. Fugaku did not look very impressed.

"The...questionable language of a seven-year-old aside," Fugaku started, turning to the pink-haired girl who was having trouble fitting the massive chicken in her mouth. Sakura freezed and quickly dropped the chicken when she saw Fugaku looking at her, "why don't you start with your names? I'm sure we're all acquainted here, but I do not like not knowing the people who are in my house."

Sakura creased her brow, wondering why on earth it was only her who he didn't know. How did he know Naruto? He wasn't _that_ popular, suffice to say.

"Sakura Haruno, sir." She replied easily, eliciting a slight nod from Fugaku.

"Do you have any family?" Fugaku asked in a brusque manner, not caring for those at the table who didn't. Before Sakura could answer that, yes, in fact, she did have family, Naruto decided to open his loud mouth.

"Course she does! She's from a clan, isn't that right, Sakura-chan?" Naruto grinned. Suddenly, everyone turned to her, interest painted on their faces, mainly Fugaku.

Sakura stiffened, the colour from her face draining as she regarded Naruto with the three simple words she could muster.

 _"Civilian_ clan, Naruto." She quickly attempted to cover up. Fugaku's eyes quickly lost interest, as he returned to eating his dinner.

 _ **Che. How rude. If only they knew,** **Sakura-chan**_ , Suijin mumbled.

 _Even I don't know about my own clan, so don't start that crap_ , Sakura muttered back, countenance grim as she ate with carefully-concealed malice.

Sasuke turned to her, an eyebrow raised. By this point she had given up entirely at trying to shove the chicken into her small mouth and was now chopping it into smaller, more bite-size pieces.

"What's a civilian clan? How does it work?" Sasuke asked her, confused. She pursed her lips, trying to conjure up a believable lie. The people at this table were renowned geniuses, after all. She'd have to watch what she said.

"It's just...It's like a shinobi clan, except we're not shinobi, we're just civilians. We don't have any dojustsu or any of that fancy stuff like the Uchiha have," she huffed, trying to feign jealousy. "My parents are merchants, as with the rest of my clan. It's like an extended family." Naruto turned to her, a disbelieving expression painted on his face. Sakura paled once more, and decided that she was not going to like whatever he had to see.

 _He's going to blow my cover,_ Sakura muttered, and she heard Suijin hum.

 _ **Well, if you can't think of anything to say, just repeat me. I know much more than you do about clans and the likes**_ , Suijin replied.

"Merchants? But how come your nee-chan is a really good ninja? Even you can do that teleporting thing! You've got, like, powers or something!" Naruto exclaimed, extending his arms out in front of him for extra affect. Shisui openly gaped, as well as Sakura.

 _It's confirmed, Naruto is retarded,_ Sakura groaned. She could see the sympathetic look Shisui was shooting her.

Of course. He knew that she could shunshin, so if he was sending her an expression like that, it meant that he felt sorry for her. What, did that mean that Fugaku was going to get involved, now?

Fugaku's lost interest suddenly returned, even going as far as to raise his head to look at the girl. She couldn't be older than ten, merely a civilian, if his ears had not deceived him. Such a feat accomplished at such a young age was certainly something that was not common in the shinobi community, and he was sure he'd never heard of anything in the civilian sector.

Fugaku's curiosity eventually got the best of him, as he spoke,

"You can shunshin?" Fugaku asked, his voice deep and full of doubt. Sakura felt offended at the man's disbelieving tone. Or...maybe it was a compliment, in his own, strange way?

Sakura slowly inclined her head, and she watched as his obsidian eyes rapidly lit up with intent. She couldn't help the gulp of fear that slipped down her dry throat afterwards.

"How old are you?" Fugaku questioned, redirecting his attention so that it solely relied on Sakura.

"I'm seven, Uchiha-sama." Sakura easily replied, mentally praising herself for keeping her voice so steady despite the trepidation slithering through her veins. He raised his eyebrow - it was a slow gesture, as if he was contradicting himself.

"And you are sure that you can perform the shunshin?" He asked, carefully. Sakura reluctantly nodded. Of course, Sasuke decided that he was going to interject with something of his own.

"She got us all here with the shunshin, tou-san!" Sasuke grinned at Sakura. She assumed that this was intended to be encouraging, but she did not feel very well at the moment. Itachi merely watched the exchange with attentiveness, although his interest was vigilantly covered.

Fugaku seemed to hesitate for a minute, as if debating his next actions carefully, before speaking up once more.

"Do it now." He commanded, and Sakura only barely withheld a splutter at the man's straightforward words. Shisui decided that this would be a good moment to interrupt, _God bless his soul._

"A-ah, maybe she should wait till _after_ she's eaten the dinner that Mikoto-oba's so _graciously_ prepared, yeah?" Shisui suggested. Fugaku shot him a stern look, appearing as if he was ready to argue his case. Luckily for Sakura, it seemed that Mikoto was also on her side.

"Dear, let us drop all of this political nonsense for after the family dinner. We do not want to pressure Sakura-chan, do we?" Mikoto calmly said. "Look, she hasn't even finished her meal yet. Maybe we should move onto more... _suitable_ topics for seven-year-olds?" Mikoto, by this point, had interlaced her fingers neatly underneath her chin, appearing delicate, although the insinuation behind her words was not mistaken: _She is a child. You shouldn't force her into that kind of life right now, or you will have hell to pay._

Even with the woman's soothingly sweet voice, it did not soften the sharp edge of her comment. It was intended to be a blow to his maladjusted mindset of his thoughts that the perfect shinobi was also the ideal human, which was definitely something that Mikoto disagreed with. Shinobi were trained to kill mercilessly, make no mistakes, and conceal their emotions.

Humans regularly made mistakes, spare those who did not deserve to be hurt and help those who _have_ been hurt, and sometimes were too emotional for their own good. These reasons served as good evidence that shinobi were not human. Sure, they may be _physically_ human, but where was their sense of morality?

Fugaku eyed Sakura for a moment longer, his gaze sharp and scrutinising, before his eyes quickly slipped to the side to meet his wife's serious and warning expression. Sakura did not miss the way the Head Uchiha's usually hard-edged eyes softened at the sight of Mikoto's pleading look.

With a begrudging grunt of mild approval, Fugaku returned to his meal, dismissing the previous events entirely. Everyone apart from Sakura returned to their food, as if they sensed that the tension had disappeared, but Sakura begged to differ. She could feel a variety of emotions coiling their way around her neck, like a snake would it's prey.

Attempting to identify these emotions would result in an resounding failure on Sakura's part, although she did feel unnerved, which was a completely normal thing to feel after the Head of one of the most influential clans in the world decides to put you in their interests. She did not mean it metaphorically when she felt the emotions wrapping around her neck - she felt like she could not breathe. This was not good.

 _ **Sakura-chan, you need to calm down. You're going to send yourself into a panic attack,**_ Suijin advised, his voice merely a light sting on her temples. She had gradually gotten used to the feeling of having him speak inside of her mind, the pain when he talked mainly gone.

 _I-I'm-_ she stopped, taking a minute to breathe, _yeah, you're right. You're right. I-I'll calm down, yeah? Alright. Okay._ She could hear Suijin release a sigh within the containment of her mind.

 _ **Is it because of that Uchiha?** _Suijin asked, his voice strangely empathetic.

 _Yes_. Sakura admitted, attempting to come to terms with the causes of her fear. _I just...Kaa-san told me to not mention the clan to anyone. I'd never heard her sound so serious. I don't even know why I need to keep it secret, but...Kaa-san and Tou-san are really strong, you know? So is Haname-nee. If it makes them want to hide from people, then it must be something really scary that's coming for them. If Fugaku-sama decides that...maybe, I'm something interesting, then...He'll find out about the Haruno Clan_. Suijin immediately understood her selfless concern. They were sharing a mind, after all.

 _ **If you become nervous and give him a genuine reason to be suspicious of you, then expect to be found out. They are Uchiha. Watch out**_. Sakura was surprised at the quiet venom in his voice - it had almost came out a growl.

 _Do you have something against the Uchiha?_ Sakura asked, slightly curious.

 _ **...You could say that**_. This time, he _did_ growl. Sakura decided that it was a discussion for later, and shook her head.

 _Okay, then. I'll just...I'll just say that Haname-nee taught me, and I think she can cover it from there,_ Sakura told him. By Suijin's non-committal hum of agreement, she decided that it was a plan.

Sakura quicky came back to reality, unfortunately not quick enough to catch something that Sasuke was saying to her.

"-your dinner..." Sasuke finished. His eyes shone with concern, and Sakura was confused.

"Huh? What did you say? Sorry, I zoned out a little." She questioned, the politest tone she could bring herself to speak in at the moment. Sasuke shot her another concerned glance, before reiterating his ealier sentence.

"I asked if you were alright. You haven't really touched your dinner." Sasuke nodded his chin towards her almost-full plate. She regarded him with a wince and looking back down to her dinner. She quickly prodded her chicken with her finger, eliciting a mental sigh of relief from herself.

 _Still warm,_ she noted with joy. She wasn't about to waste Mikoto's amazing cooking.

"Ah, yeah...I just had to regain my bearings after that earlier shunshin. My head's still spinning from that..." Sakura replied, a gentle smile adorning her sweet features. She eyes the empty glass next to her, frowning a little. If only-

"Would you like me to refill your glass, Haruno-san?"

Sakura snapped her head up quickly towards the boy that she had last wanted to speak to. How was she supposed to make amends after she'd literally accused him - _a very highly-esteemed heir_ \- of sexual offence in an attempt to escape his completely reasonable questioning? Sakura then realised that this was the first time he had spoken the entire dinner. Why was he being nice to her? She had already promised that she was not going to be rude to him, so,

"That would be nice. Thank you, Uchiha-san." She nodded back, a small smile on her face. He returned the smile, although a little strained, and reached over to grab her glass. He walked back after refilling it to hand it back to her. She mouthed a small thanks and returned to her dinner.

"How did you eat that much so quickly, dobe?" Sasuke whispered to Naruto, who glared at the insulting insinuation.

"It's good." Naruto replied defiantly, jabbing a finger into Sasuke's chest.

"I think your mouth is bigger than your brain, Usuratonkachi. I guess it's not all that surprising that you managed to fit so much in that massive gob of yours, after all." Sasuke had retorted, and like that they once again fell into easy argument that seemed to relieve the awkward tension lingering around them.

"Thank you for the dinner. I have a meeting." Fugaku suddenly spoke, standing up from his chair abruptly and leaving the room before his children and wife could even mutter their farewells to him.

Sakura immediately noticed the change of atmosphere, the way that the Uchiha at the table seemed to sigh in relief at his departure. Sakura had finished her food by then, so Mikoto collected the plates in.

"Mikoto-san, would you like me to help you with the dishes?" Sakura asked, hands neatly positioned behind her back. Mikoto grinned at Sakura, humming a soft laugh.

"That is sweet, Sakura-chan. Thank you for the offer, but I think I'll manage," Mikoto replied, smiling down at the girl. "Go and play with the others. Have some fun."

"Are you sure-?"

"Yes, Sakura-chan." Mikoto laughed, shaking her head fondly. Sakura hesitantly nodded and rejoined Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto quickly whipped his head towards her.

"Sakura-chan! Sasuke-bastard thinks he's better than me at throwing kunai, tell him he's wrong!" Naruto ordered, pointing towards a rather smug-looking younger Uchiha. Naruto quickly craned his head to glare at Sasuke, a growl forming in the back of his throat. "What the hell are you smirking at, bastard!? I'll knock your teeth out, then you won't be so disgustingly pretty for a boy!"

Naruto launched at Sasuke, but was quickly yanked back by the wrist by Sakura. Shisui's bellowing laughter at Naruto's declaration was heard in the background.

"Stop fighting!" She yapped, an irritated look forming on her face, and the tick in her forehead visible. They froze mid-punch, turning to look at her with nervous, lopsided smiles on their faces.

"...So Sasuke-chan won't listen to me when I tell him to do things, but he'll listen to a little girl with pink hair?" Shisui muttered, deadpanning. Itachi shrugged, unable to comment on the situation.

It seems, Itachi and Shisui noted, that Sakura had heard Shisui and had quickly whipped her head around to glare at him. And then Shisui giggled. There was no way he could have taken her seriously when she looked like that, all cute when trying to look all big and bad.

Shisui then regretted his giggle when a hand smacked him around the upside of his head. He let out a yelp of pain, clutching the injury. Sakura turned her head away with a _'hmph',_ folding her arms, deciding that it was a job well done. The eleven-year-old quietly let out another smaller giggle, but Sakura seemed not to notice.

 _That, or,_ Itachi thought, _she had just deemed him too far gone._

Itachi opened his mouth to berate his cousin but clamped it shut when he felt a chakra signature nearing the house. Shisui had apparently felt it too, meeting his gaze solemnly. Itachi noted with interest how Sakura seemed to freeze and look towards the door a few moments after Itachi and Shisui felt it. She could sense aswell?

A knock on the door silenced everyone, even Sasuke and Naruto's argument. Mikoto went to open the door, surprised to see an ANBU standing there...Her eyes suddenly narrowed. No. Not ANBU. ROOT. What was a ROOT operative doing here? They could get seen by civilians, and only powerful figures knew about them.

"Uchiha-sama. Is Shisui Uchiha here?" The masked man asked, as the boy in question popped his head up from behind Mikoto.

"Yeah. What do you want?" Shisui inquired, and the man acknowledged him with a small bow.

"Danzo-sama requests your presence immediately. All details will be discussed with him." And with that, the man disappeared.

Sakura's movements seized.

 _Shit...Is this...?_ Sakura couldn't finish her thought. There was no way that Danzo was going to kill him _now..._ right? He wouldn't-

"Well, see ya!" Shisui replied with a small, departing finger-salute, hopping out of the door. Mikoto waved him off, seemingly a little unnerved by the ROOT operative's presence.

"I...uh...I'm gonna go now, too. Thankyouforhavingme!" Sakura suddenly hastened to say with a bow, swallowing down any impending doubts she had. Better safe than sorry, she'd always thought.

Mikoto seemed to pout, but quickly gathered Sakura up in a hug.

"Okay. Goodbye, Sakura-chan. Come back anytime!" Mikoto told her, before both Sasuke and Naruto also hugged her and said their goodbyes. She nodded slightly to Itachi, who nodded back respectfully, and then she bolted out of the door.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Please review if you enjoyed it. All reviews are appreciated! Constructive criticism is welcome :)

Also, _shit is about to go down._

 _Danzo is a massive fuckface_


	18. Chapter 18

Sakura sprinted, but gradually got slower and slower, until she came to a complete halt. What was she to do if Danzo _wasn't_ going to indirectly slaughter Shisui today? Was she just supposed to interrupt their _'meeting'_ or whatever was going on and get herself promptly arrested?

A thrumming in the back of her head quickly pulled her from her musings. It was then that she realised that Suijin was trying to connect with her.

 _ **Sakura-chan, you need to hurry!**_ He yelled, and Sakura momentarily blanched from the desperation in his voice. _ **Do you**_ **w** **ant** _ **to save Shisui!?**_

 _Of course, I just-_

 _ **Then**_ **g** **o**! Suijin commanded, and Sakura sprinted until her legs ached from the physical strain.

Every person she passed gave her unusual looks. She didn't blame them. Her actions _did_ seem slightly unorthodox.

As she ran, she couldn't help but wonder if she could actually save him. What if she failed? What would be the point? Everything would go to shit, and the massacre would happen. Even if Shisui died and she was able to prevent to massacre, she would still feel his blood on his hands, knowing that she had an opportunity to save the innocent boy's life and had failed. She wouldn't be able to live with herself.

 _I should've got Itachi to come with me,_ she convinced herself, already doubting that she would have the ability to win this fight. _Maybe he would be able to fight Danzo._

 _ **It**_ _ **wouldn't have made a difference, Shisui would have been dead by the time you got there! Itachi resumed his ANBU duties shortly after you left, so if you had tried to find him, Shisui would've already killed himself and Itachi would've been mentally scarred,**_ Suijin argued, as Sakura shrunk a little. _**And even if you found Itachi and convinced him that Shisui was going to die, you'd have been taken into questioning under suspicion of traitorous activity against Konoha after you'd have saved him. I mean, how else are you supposed to tell them that you knew that it was going to happen? You'd have seemingly been involved in the plot.**_

Her legs were starting to hurt. She'd never ran this fast in her life. Scratch that, she'd never _had_ to run this fast in her life. When had she ever found herself in the situation where the whole future rested in her hands? And why was it _her?_ She wasn't special. She never had been.

But she would save him. She wasn't about to let him die, even if that meant ignoring her own mindset for a while.

 ** _Look out-!_** Suijin yelped, cutting his warning off short when Sakura roughly rammed into someone. She quickly jumped up, dusting herself off. A quick glimpse of the person she had bumped in to showed silver hair and that all familiar mask.

 _Hatake-san. Shit. Can't talk now_ , she mused, quickly pushing past him to carry on her sprint. She didn't miss the curious look he gave her as she darted past him.

She ran for a little while, before she came to her destination and started breathing heavily from over-exertion, her hands on her knees.

Sakura assessed her surroundings, noting that she was in the right place. She had seen these things in her dreams. But where was Shi-?

"I apologise, Danzo-sama, but it's only a genjutsu-" Sakura whirled around, recognising the muffled voice. There it was. The exact same scene she'd witnessed all before. "-you'll break out of it eventually."

She didn't think before she moved, immediately propelling herself forward to block the impending attack from Danzo.

It seemed she had timed her strike just right, coming forward and grasping his fist in her tiny hand, taking the blow for Shisui. Danzo did not seem happy.

"What-!?"

"Sakura-chan!?" Shisui yelled, quickly grabbing onto the girl and shunshinning a few metres away. Sakura sent him a quick glance, noting his concerned and surprised expression, before turning to Danzo with a scowl.

"Leave him alone, you old bastard!" Sakura growled, unsheathing her kunai and weapons. Shisui did the same next to her, although somewhat hesitantly and with valid confusion. Danzo tilted his head, analysing the pinkette.

"You little rat. I was so close." Danzo growled back. Sakura lowered her stance, gripping the kunai with more force. Her hand was trembling, breath bated and ragged as she tried to steady herself.

 _I've really done it now. Oh god, what the hell was I thinking? I can't do this!_

"Shisui, don't let his hands near your face, he's trying to take your eyes!" Sakura explained despite her own pessimistic train of thought, as Shisui's breath hitched, turning away from Sakura to face Danzo with a surprised expression.

"So that's what this is about. You want my eyes? You traitorous, snakey little bastard! Just wait until Hokage-sama hears about this-!"

"Funny. Last I heard, corpses can't speak." Danzo interrupted, suddenly bringing his hands up to click his fingers. ROOT operatives immediately surrounded them. Danzo's eyes fell onto Sakura. "But I wonder how you knew that? Interesting...Oh well. It won't change a thing."

The ROOT operatives rapidly brought their hands up in order to sign, but Shisui was quicker.

As soon as the water left their mouths in waves, his eyes turned from the usual spinning tomoe to their own, personalised pinwheel. Sakura had to suppress a gasp when a grand, purple figure appeared, acting as a barrier against the water-ninjas' jutsus.

"What is...?" Sakura looked around in awe, cutting herself off when she realised that this was the middle of the battle.

She heard Danzo's disturbing, deep chuckle resonate within the field.

"I was wondering when you were going to pull this trick." Danzo admitted, signing for his ROOT operatives to stand by his side. The complied. "Didn't take you very long, did it? Tch. You Uchiha are all the same. Relying on your eyes instead of real skills. But that's okay," Danzo suddenly grinned, and Sakura didn't realise that such a sweet gesture could look so horrific on someone's face. The sinister grin completely transformed his look. "How about we play a game, then? Sharingan against Sharingan? I'm sure you will appreciate seeing someone who is familiar with all of your moves."

Shisui eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He tried again,

"Which Uchiha is on your side? Double-agent...I'll kill them!" Shisui seethed, assuming that an Uchiha had joined Danzo. He didn't realise how wrong he was until Danzo started to unwrap his facial bandages.

Sakura and Shisui met the gaze of the crimson colour of a Sharingan, and Shisui's jaw dropped. He'd taken a Sharingan? This was going to make the battle lots more harder than it initially was.

Shisui's eyes slid to the smaller, leaner figure next to him. His brow furrowed. She was going to get hurt.

"Is Danzo an Uchiha?" Sakura questioned, and Shisui shook his head negative, his eyes still trained on the enemy.

"No," Shisui growled, seemingly disgusted at the thought of that man belonging to such a prestigious clan. "He stole that Sharingan and put it in his own eye."

Sakura's eyes widened, acknowledging the sixteen-year-old Uchiha next to her before returning her gaze to Danzo. She was undoubtedly surprised he hadn't made a move yet. Or maybe the jutsu that Shisui had cast was stopping him?

"Little girl," Danzo spat, regarding the pinkette with disgust. "You have already ruined my plans once. I warn you now, I will not be merciful once we start fighting. I will give you one chance to get out of the way now and pretend that this never happened, or I will kill you as mere collateral damage." Sakura laughed, silence raining on everyone as she covered her face, laughing. Everyone stayed silent, as if waiting for the punchline of the joke she deemed so obviously hilarious.

"Wow, you really are stupid," She laughed, twirling her kunai prettily in her hand. The smile was suddenly wiped off of her face and she halted her spinning to point the kunai directly at Danzo, the shine of the kunai casting an eerily dangerous glint in her emerald eyes. "I will never abandon a comrade. I will never abandon a _friend._ And if you think that," she bared her teeth at him, narrowing her eyes, "then you really have gone senile, old man."

Danzo snarled, his hands clenching unconsciously by his sides. How dare that little runt insult him! The ROOT operatives at his sides flinched at the Danzo's reaction.

"Do you know who I am, brat? What I do?" Danzo questioned, as Sakura pretending to think for a second, before maliciously smiling with a shrug.

"Why would I care? You're going to die soon, anyway." She laughed, waving her kunai about as if it was a toy. Danzo made a small _'tch'_ noise, motioning to the men next to him.

"Two against eleven. Bare in mind that these these eleven men are elite. How are you going to win?" He snarled, and Sakura was really starting to despise the horrendous tone that he was taking with her.

She bitterly clamped her mouth shut, replacing it with a seething scowl, unable to actually conjure up a response. Shisui seemed content to reply to his comment for her, however.

"You'll find out eventually," Shisui told him. "Now, why don't you tell us why you're doing this?" Danzo sighed, facepalming as if he couldn't believe that one could be so stupid.

"Even the little girl next to you could identify my intentions. Losing your touch already, Uchiha?" Danzo jeered, eliciting a scowl from Shisui. "I want your eyes. More specifically, your Visual Prowess. And since you're not going to live to tell anyone, I suppose I might as well tell you why." Danzo readied himself for a speech as Sakura _'tch'_ ed.

"Monologues already?" She muttered under her breath. Danzo paid no attention to her comment.

"Konoha is a tree, brimming with life and all of it's shinobi as the leaves. People assume that the trunk is strong, and forget about it's real foundations. The roots. The roots are hidden from plain sight, but are what keeps the tree standing. They do all the dirty work, like collecting water and minerals, something the leaves and the trunk are unable and too inexperienced to do. And, alas, no one realises the true reason the tree has not yet fallen," Danzo explained. The operatives next to Danzo had been increasingly uncomfortable with the rising tension in the air. Shisui merely held Danzo's glare. "ROOT has been and always will be the only organisation this village can completely trust. I only do what is right for the village. This is necessary if we do not wish for a political uprising in the Uchiha clan." Shisui's expression glowered as he readied himself to respond, but Sakura cut his answer off.

"You're _wrong!"_ She shouted, her knuckles white from her tenacious hold on her weapon. Everyone turned to her, surprised by her outburst, but she did not waver. "Konoha is not the village, it's the people! You're doing this for the village, but the village can easily become something else entirely and yet you would still pledge your delusional _'loyalty'_ to it! Nothing good will come from this!" Danzo stared down at her, and he let out a quiet chuckle. It was a deep, grainy sound, and Sakura grimaced. She did not like that sound.

"You just have to go and keep irritating me, don't you? If I were you, little girl, I would keep your attitude on a leash. I would tell you that you will eventually meet someone that will make you pay for saying such a thing, but it seems that I will be taking that role. I gave you a chance to walk away unharmed, and you refused." His voice deepened a notch, and he spat his next words. "You are going to die today, Sakura Haruno."

"Not if I have anything to do with it." Shisui bit out, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. Now that Sakura had looked at him, she noticed that he seemed completely drained. And, apparently, so had Danzo.

"You can't keep your Susanoo up forever, Uchiha," Danzo growled, his Sharingan spinning wildly with the intent to kill. "We both know that. So why don't you dispel it and we can finish this battle?" Shisui chuckled humourlessly.

"This is a battle?" He asked dryly, still trying to joke in such a situation. "I assumed we were just having a friendly chat. But, if you really want to lose that badly..." At these words, Shisui's Susanoo suddenly lashed it's arm out, a stark contrast from it's previous defensive position, into the ROOT operatives. As expected, they jumped clear out of the way.

Shisui had done this to clear the battlefield as he fell to his knees, breathing heavily, the Susanoo disappearing.

"I will take your eyes now," Danzo simply said, as if he was not expected to refuse. "Good riddance." With that, he signalled to his ANBU operatives.

They quickly rushed forward to attack Shisui, but were surprised to see that Sakura was still holding her ground, kunai in hand. One operative met her head-on, kunais clashing. Sakura jerked forward to kick his knee from out under him, but he jumped over her leg and punched her in the gut.

The air was momentarily knocked out of her, but that didn't stop her from noticing the other operatives that were heading towards the exhausted Shisui. She sprinted towards them, intent on saving Shisui, when she was suddenly yanked back by the hair. She let out a yelp of pain, kicking her leg back, which, surprisingly, connected with the man's shin. He let go of her hair in surprise, which gave her an opening to whirl around and shove her kunai in his gut.

The man crumpled to the floor, holding his stomach, before the bleeding suddenly stopped and he flashed back to Danzo.

"Heal it." Danzo gruffly commanded, to which the ROOT operative obliged. "She shouldn't be a problem to deal with."

Ignoring his jeering insult, Sakura rushed forward to block the kunai of one ROOT, but was quickly overwhelmed when she noticed that it was nine against one. A cough made her spin around to face Shisui, who was now up and wiping the sweat off of his forehead, a grin on his face. Nine against two, she corrected.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan." He grinned, and then shunshinned behind one operative and sliced his throat in one, clean motion. "I can take it from here."

Sakura stared at the falling body of the now-dead man, blood spilling from his throat like a leaky faucet. She then looked at Shisui, who looked like he was having no issue with cutting down the operatives.

He had just killed a man. Just like that. And he was grinning whilst he did it.

She swallowed the rising bile, shakily raising the kunai in her hand with a deep breath.

 _Of course he just killed him. We're in a life-or-death situation,_ she told herself. _It's us or them._

 ** _Go get 'em, Sakura-chan,_** Suijin encouraged, although the concern was evident in the way he hesitated before speaking.

She jumped into the fight, shunshinning between operatives to get to Shisui. Although, she did note, that his shunshinning was clearly superior. It basically looked like he was teleporting as he rapidly appeared next to each operative to fight them.

Once she reached Shisui, she punched the man he was facing across the face, startling him enough for Shisui to quickly snap his neck and dispose of him. Looking around, she noticed that the man that she had previously shoved a kunai into was now back in the fight, his wound completely gone.

 _ **Medic-nin,**_ Suijin shortly explained. _**Him first.**_

Following Suijin's advice, she shunshinned towards the medic-nin and immediately started flying through hand signs. Once completed, she blew out a huge fireball which engulfed the medic-nin. He appeared relatively unharmed apart from his arm which was now charred and melting to bits. It took her a lot of willpower to not call quits and just vomit everywhere.

She really needed to get over her fear of blood.

"Stupid little bitch," he cursed, hissing as a green-glowing hand hovered over his arm. "I'll make you pay for that."

He jumped forward, attempting to kick her in the stomach. She rapidly shunshinned behind him and turned the tables, instead booting him. He flew forwards on to the floor, rolling a bit before coming to a stop.

Getting up quicker than he had initially skidded across the floor, he flash-stepped next to her and sent a punch towards her face. Sakura caught it, twisting his arm and holding him in place whilst she pulled out an explosive tag and slapped it on his forearm.

She flew backwards, smiling a little in satisfaction as he exploded.

 _"Boom."_ She whispered, simultaneously to the explosion, relishing in how he was now limping and unable to do much more. She quickly shunshinned towards him and sliced his neck.

For some reason, she felt no remorse as he hit the ground with a thud, in a pool of his own blood. That was her first kill. Shouldn't she feel a bit more emotional?

Sakura's mouth twisted uncertainly as she looked at the corpse of the man she had just killed. Should she feel bad? The man was trying to kill her and Shisui, after all...

Her eyes hardened, and the downward curve of her lip straightened in indifference.

 _No,_ no she shouldn't.

Sakura quickly whirled around, sensing a chakra signature, and dodged the kunai of one ROOT member. He swiped again, to which Sakura met his kunai with her own. She lowered her voice an octave to speak to him as they pushed their kunais against the others - a battle of wills.

"Why are you helping Danzo? What are you going to get out of it? He doesn't care about you, you know. He only wants power." Sakura attempted to explain. The man merely ignored her, jutting out his elbow to meet her head.

She swiftly flickered a good distance away, fumbling for something in her pouch. She grinned as her hand firmly wrapped around a senbon - maybe Ino's poisonous flower teachings might come in handy. She pulled out a few vials full of different coloured liquid - doses of poison that she had extracted from different poisonous flowers.

She racked her brain for quick answers, determining which poison to use. Green, immobilizing, she reminisced. Purple, loss of sight. Blue, loss of feeling - numbing in the limbs. And red, a 4/10 chance of fatality.

She popped open the purple vial, deeming it useful for now, and coated her senbon with it as quick as possible. The man had not noticed what she was doing, as he flew forward and rapidly kicked her legs from out underneath her. She tripped, but rolled on the floor quickly in order to regain balance. Standing again, she swiftly slipped the vials back into her pouch and kept the senbon discreetly hidden. He flew forward once more with an aura of determination. He flew through a few handsigns before he brought his hands up to his mouth and inhaled a fair amount. Sakura's eyes widened in realisation.

 _ **Shit, move-!**_

A blur of silver appeared in front of her and then her vision was engulfed in red. She quickly covered her face with her arms as flames licked away at her skin, but once they died down, she noticed the man who she had previously been fighting dead on the floor. It seems that he had been the victim to that impressive katon.

Her eyes quickly darted to her saviour, and-

"Hatake-san!?" She breathed in disbelief, eyes widening multiple fractions. His lone eye slid towards her, and he huffed a little, his eyes finally sliding towards the battlefield once more.

"I did think it was rather suspicious how you just ran past me like that." He admitted, analyzing their surroundings with a trained eye. "And now I understand."

The air around them seemed to thicken when Danzo appeared front of Kakashi, his hands balled in front of him. Their eyes met, Danzo's sharingans swirling with barely-concealed rage.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Danzo ordered, betrayal lining his question. Kakashi neatly slid his hands into his pockets, shrugging his shoulders.

 _He shouldn't do that,_ Sakura couldn't help but think, _Danzo could get the jump on him._ _He needs his hands at the ready._

 _ **Or maybe he's just confident in his skills**_ , Suijin suggested. _**We haven't seen him fight, yet, after all. To be honest, I don't think we know anything about him.**_ Sakura couldn't help but wonder how true that was.

"Always thought you were a bit dodgy. This gave me all of the evidence I needed. Hokage-sama will not be happy about this." Kakashi told him, finally raising his hands to lift his hitai-ate, revealing yet another sharingan.

"How dare you-!"

"No, how dare _you."_ Kakashi spat, his anger simmering. "You traitor. What happened to your ' _loyalty to Konoha_ '? When I joined this organisation, I never expected to have to stop you from killing an innocent eleven-year-old boy and a little girl!" Danzo narrowed his eyes.

"This is _because_ of my loyalty to Konoha." Danzo replied, his teeth gritted. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Is it?" He asked incredulously. "Well, Konoha _thanks_ you." He slowly said, sarcasm lacing his every word. "Because...now, we can get rid of the _real_ problem."

He brought out his hands from out of his pockets and flew through the signs for a katon. The remaining five ROOT operatives, Sakura assumed that Shisui had killed a few, quickly flickered away from Shisui to meet Kakashi's katon with their water jutsu. Shisui shunshinned next to Sakura, who was watching the scene with surprised eyes.

"I get it now..." She mumbled, and Shisui did not bother to ask what it actually was that she finally understood. "Hatake-san's actually a good guy, then..."

"What the hell's going on!?" Shisui asked, raking his hands frantically through his curly hair. "I thought Kakashi was-" Shisui cut himself off with a growl, clenching his fists at his sides.

Sakura watched with badly-hidden awe as the figures on the battlefield quickly became blurs. Shisui seemed unaffected as he watched with his Sharingan, but Sakura just suspected that it was due to his Dojutsu that he was able to see them clearly.

The flashes of colour died down, revealing Danzo, three ROOT operatives and Kakashi. Kakashi's sharingan was swirling rapidly, his breathing heavy and sweat rolling down the sides of his face.

 _He killed two of the bad guys already!?_ Sakura internally sscreeched. Maybe she really _didn't_ know him, after all.

 _ **He's...exceedingly skilled**_ , Suijin admitted, although not as impressed as Sakura.

"Sakura, Shisui," Kakashi suddenly spoke up, his eyes connecting with Sakura's. "Get out of here. I'll deal with him." Kakashi's eyes met Danzo's gaze once more.

Sakura balled her fists by her sides, gritting her teeth.

"No, I'm not leaving you to fight him by yourself!" Sakura argued, the senbon between her knuckles tingling with the urge to be used. Kakashi chuckled, shaking his head. Sakura noticed how his eyes seemed to darken and his expression slackened.

"You hardly know me, and you're acting as if it's necessary for you to fight alongside me. I am especially not letting a _seven-year-old_ join my fight." Kakashi growled, his eyes meeting the floor. His next words came as a whisper, "I appreciate your concern, but I'm not letting another ally die for my sake."

Sakura suddenly felt a wave of guilt wash over her once she realised what his words meant. Someone had died to save him before. And by the sound of his words, they had been close to him.

"Well, luckily for you, I don't _plan_ to die." Sakura easily replied, flickering into the space next to Kakashi, as did Shisui.

She watched as Kakashi's eyes darted between her and Shisui, as if debating whether to actually let them fight or not. After a few moments, he blew a breath and nodded.

The ROOT operatives seemed glued to Danzo's sides, as if they were waiting for orders. Danzo brought up his hand, and then brought it down just as quickly. The ROOT member's quickly started their signs for what Sakura remembered to be their water jutsu, so she started flying through the signs for a Katon to counter it. Kakashi and Shisui were also signing for a katon, as Kakashi inhaled and exhaled a massive amount of fire. Then Shisui finished signing and did the same, and finally; Sakura.

The two Katon next to her were clearly superior, but her katon was impressive for someone her age.

Sakura watched as Kakashi and Shisui's Katons quickly overpowered the water jutsus. Their balls of flames quickly erupted into the four-man crowd. She heard the screams of one particular individual before they quickly died away, as did the flames, reavealing the burnt and charred body of the victim. The other three had jumped out of the way, unfortunately.

"Repulsive. He was useless anyway." She heard Danzo mutter as he stared down at the corpse of his former operative, and she felt anger quickly flare inside her.

"How could you say that about someone?" She indignantly questioned, her teeth gritted so hard that she thought that they might chip. "He was a living person! Even if he picked the wrong side in the long run, he died protecting you, and you just-you just-! _Argh!_ How _could_ you!?" Danzo blinked a few times at her, almost innocently.

"I have no use for broken tools," Danzo stated in a tone that screamed _'obviously'._ "If they were foolish enough to get themselves killed fighting an Uchiha pariah," His eyes fell on Shisui, "A friend killer," His eyes fell on Kakashi, who ultimately blanched and looked about ready to tear the head straight off of his body, "And a seven-year-old girl with pink hair," He looked at Sakura, "Then they were not fit to survive ROOT's tests in the first place."

Sakura stilled, frozen to the spot. She snarled, gripping her senbon so hard that she feared her knuckles might break.

 ** _BASTARD! KICK HIS ASS, SAKURA-CHAN!_** Suijin screamed, igniting her rage further.

"You...You are truly heartless." Sakura growled, shaking her head as if she couldn't believe his callous words.

"So I've been told." He grunted in reply.

No longer desiring to waste any more time exchanging meaningless conversation with someone so obviously brainwashed by their own amoral nature, Sakura suddenly propelled her self forward with a burst of speed she didn't think herself capable of possessing, and lunged with her senbon. She dug the poisoned senbon into the arm of one of the operatives, rendering him blind.

She whirled around to do the same to Danzo, before the last remaining operative jumped in the way and received the senbon jab instead. She grunted in annoyance, slicing his neck with feral hostility, doing the same to the other man.

All of this had happened so quickly that Sakura had not anticipated the kunai that Danzo pulled from his holster and plunged into Sakura's gut.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Shisui screamed in terror, quickly yanking her away to safety as Kakashi battled it out with Danzo. He stared down at the kunai lodged into her stomach, clutching his head as he watched helplessly. "I-I don't know what to do! I-!"

Sakura coughed up blood, tearing Shisui from his panic to focus on the primary task. Sakura reached forward to pull the kunai out of her, before Shisui's hands gripped her wrist, stopping her.

"W...what are you...?" Sakura coughed, spluttering her sentence.

"W-what if it starts bleeding!?" Shisui queried, his Mangekyo sharingan (A/N: Sakura does not know what it's called, but I'll call it that anyway) spinning wildly, darting between Sakura's wound and the blood trailing down her chin. Sakura frowned, shaking her head.

"Th-Then you'll apply pressure..." She surprisingly sounded extremely calm for someone who was currently dying in someone else's arms. "He might have...put poison...Take it out." She ordered, coughing violently and causing more blood to erupt from her mouth.

She didn't know why she wasn't that upset faced with the likely possibility that she may die, but she suspected that the adrenaline had some part to play. Shisui eyed her, uncertain for a minute, before complying and gently pulling the kunai out. She made a faint grunt of pain at the extraction, causing Shisui to flinch as he attempted to remove it even more carefully.

Once the kunai was effectively removed from her abdomen, Shisui watched as blood started to pour from the open wound. Panicking, he quickly pulled his shirt over his head, revealing a smaller vest, and wrapped it tightly around Sakura's injury.

"G-good..." She coughed, wincing as she wiped away the blood on her chin. "Now go help H-Hatake-san."

"Are you sure? I mean- I-I don't wanna just _leave_ you here-"

"Shisui," She sighed, a mild warning. "Go. And. H-help. Him."

Shisui turned to her, before hesitantly running off to join Kakashi in his fight. She prodded at her wound, grimacing when pain quickly overtook her.

 _S-shit..._ She thought, signalling for Suijin's help. _I don't know any medical ninjutsu!_

 **...Something tells me that Shisui won't let you die, so you don't have to worry,** Suijin started, although growling out the next part, quieter, **_even_ if _he is an Uchiha._**

 _What's that supposed to mean? What do you have against the Uchiha?_ Sakura queried, deciding that she might as well take her mind off of the possibly fatal stab wound she had received.

 _Everything, Sakura-chan,_ he replied, sighing. _Every. Fucking. Thing._

Sakura tore her gaze away from her stomach to Shisui and Kakashi, facing off Danzo. She winced in sympathy for Shisui as he received a very painful-looking kick to the jaw. She watched as Kakashi shouted something unintelligable to Danzo, before he replied, disappearing into thin air.

Sakura jolted up from the tree she was leaning against in shock, only regretting her action once a sharp pain from her abdomen elicited a small whimper of pain from the child. Her eyes wide, she shouted to Kakashi and Shisui who quickly flanked her, helping her up.

"W-where the hell...did he go!?" She yelled, enbridled rage tearing away at her. Kakashi sent her an upset look, picking her up bridal style to ease Shisui's pain.

"He...got away." Kakashi said simply, ignoring her question.

"I...I know that!" Sakura responded, pulling at her own hair. "But...where did he _go!?"_ Shisui shook his head.

"We don't know, Sakura-chan. All he said to us before leaving was ' _no one will believe your story_ ', so I suspect that he's gone straight to the Hokage, no doubt thinking up some bullshit scenario where it paints us out to be the criminals," Shisui snarled, gritting his teeth. "But I'm not one-hundred percent sure."

"Okay..." Sakura swallowed, suddenly clutching the side of her head as her eyes danced with dizziness. "Hey...I think I'm gonna...pass out..."

Giving truth to her words, Sakura watched as Shisui's face quickly contorted into panic as she went limp in Kakashi's arms, and she couldn't help but wonder why the scene seemed so familiar.

* * *

Finally! We have some plot-related action! Avoiding the fact that I am absolutely fucking terrible at writing fight scenes (I promise to try and get better, god help me), let's celebrate the fact that Shisui didn't die!

I swear it's gonna get so much better once Sakura is on her genin team and is old enough not to be considered a child. I have so much planned, I swear.

Also...

'...Something tells me that Shisui won't let you die, so you don't have to worry,' Suijin started, although growling out the next part, quieter, 'Even if he is an Uchiha.'

'What's that supposed to mean? What do you have against the Uchiha?' Sakura queried, deciding that she might as well take her mind off of the possibly fatal stab wound she had received.

'Everything, Sakura-chan,' He replied, sighing. 'Every. Fucking. Thing.'

So...theories why he said that? None of you will probably get it so it's fine lol. I guess I'll just wait for the reveal.

P.S, Please ignore my slow updates. You have no idea how long I spend writing down ideas that will probably never get used in this story. It's also really tempting to just ditch this story and start another one, but I know that I'd eventually get bored with that one too. That, and I'd never do that to you guys. I know how frustrating it is to be reading a story and find out that the author has stopped in the middle because they're a lazy piece of shit.

Anyway, please leave reviews! I love them, and they fuel my motivation for writing!

P.P.S: *added right before uploading this chapter*

I am so fucking sorry. It's been like 3 months and I haven't updated - I sincerely, sincerely apologise. I have 4 chapters ready to be published, and I will try to get the next chapter out by this week.

It's been a whole hectic few months of exams, so I apologise. GCSEs are nearing and, yeah. I've been revising, doing the stupid shitty homework that was originally created as a torture device, and just trying to catch up on my sleep for about three and a half months, honestly.

I did not lie when I claimed that I wasn't going to give up this story - I really am not. If I am taking long to update, please understand that things are going on personally, and I must leave my hobby on hiatus for a few months or so if I want to NOT permanently fuck up my future chances of a successful career, lol.

I have so many ideas for this story - and I haven't even got to writing them down yet. I literally have over 40k words of simply IDEAS that I want to do for this story. I am so, so grateful for your reviews, they really make my day and i'm sittig there with a smile on my face whilst reading them.

Also, I keep on changing my mind on what ages I want Shisui and Itachi to be. I made them younger as i was originally going to do a few 'fluff' scenes and didnt want it to seem too pedophilic, however I think I'm just going to change them back to their normal ages as I want Sakura to focus on her own age group haha. I think it diverges too much from canon if I mess with ages along with everything else, and it seems better if they're more like the protective older brothers to her, anyway.

So. I'm gonna go back and change their ages back to canon.

I love you all like so much, thank you for understanding.

But, vote time: would you like the next chapter to be released this week, or the next? Is hard to do it periodically, so I need to know what you prefer.

Ugh, also, ever wonder 'why the fuck did i write this shit'? Well, yeah. That's what I'm thinking now - almost three months later, looking back on this chapter.


	19. Chapter 19

Sakura awoke back in the hospital, and immediately recognised why everything had seemed familiar. Almost chuckling to herself in pity, she blearily blinked her jade eyes open, squinting at the scintillating white of the hospital lights. She grimaced, rubbing the side of her head when an aching migraine instantaneously hit her as a consequence of her previous rash actions.

 _"Ow..."_ Sakura mumbled, wincing and closing her eyes once more.

 _Suijin, you there?_ She asked, slowly. She'd have to rely on him to tell her what had happened.

 ** _...I'm here._** He seemed to sigh in relief. She wondered why.

 _What the hell happened? Why am I in the hospital again?_ She questioned, confusing lacing her words. He seemed to take a few minutes to respond, likely conjuring up a suitable answer.

 ** _You were bleeding out after getting stabbed with a kunai - the Uchiha and the Hatake brought you to the hospital._**

 _Danzo! We need to do something about him!_ She sat up straight, but then felt faint. She yawned, suddenly feeling drowsy. _But...let me take...a nap first._

 ** _Hey, Sakura-chan?_** Suijin asked. The girl in question was surprised when his voice momentarily cracked, betraying what almost sounded like...guilt?

 _Uh-huh?_ She oh-so-intelligently replied.

 _ **I know I've said this before, but**_ , he started, halting. _**I...hope you know that...when you fix one thing, a price must be paid with another. All changes demand sacrifice.**_ She was about to decipher what he meant, before he muttered a small, _**I'm sorry.**_

Now she was _really_ perplexed.

But also very tired...

 _Okay..._

She was sure he meant something, but...

In fear of once again being the recipient of a rather uncomfortable headache, she calmly evened out her breathing and eventually found herself drifting off to sleep a second time, before...

SLAM!

Sakura heard the door to her room swing thro', and her eyes immediately snapped wide open in instant shock. She was met with the face of a very furious-looking Haname Haruno.

"A _week,"_ Haname started, pulling at the two bangs framing her face in distress. "A _week,_ and you've already got yourself hospitalised! What the hell were you _thinking!?"_ Haname's expression was contorted in an abundance of emotions; fear, concern, anger, conflict, relief...

Sakura, although extremely caught off guard, kept her expression the same even as she slightly moved her lips to mumble,

"Actually, this is the second time-"

"I- _WHAT!?_ Oh my god, your mom is gonna kill me!" Haname paced back and fourth before hovering over Sakura. She leaned forward to envelope Sakura in a hug, before quickly recoiling back. "Wait, I can't hug you, can I? Fucking bullshi- oh, sorry. Don't tell Megumi-san I said that."

"We both know that this isn't the first time you've swore." Sakura narrowed her eyes almost accusingly. "And, I won't tell her-" Megumi sighed in relief. "-as long as you don't tell her that I was in the hospital." Megumi quickly flinched, clutching a hand to her chest. She looked on with horror.

"What have I raised?" She whispered, looking on with betrayal. "And...obviously it's not the first time. You've picked up my...questionable habits, after all."

"Fuckin' A." Sakura grinned innocently, even as Haname paled and slapped a hand over Sakura's mouth, head snapping around the room towards the open door.

"Do not _ever_ say that in front of your mom or dad. Do you know what they would do to me!?" Haname drew a line across her throat and stuck her tongue out as she hung her head. Sakura pulled Haname's hand off of her mouth.

"No they wouldn't." Sakura argued. Haname nodded furiously in protest.

"And we're in public. Anyone could hear you swearing and they'll think I abuse you or something!" Haname seethed, punching the air. "Child protective services would be on my ass."

"Actually, this room is private, so it's not publi-"

"Hold on a second, how the hell did you just change the subject like that!?" Haname asked, terrified. At what, she didn't know. "We were talking about how you almost died. Do you know how serious that is!?"

"Do you know how serious _swearing_ is-"

"Now is not the time for jokes, Sakura!" Haname cut off, angry tears pricking her eyes, causing Sakura to abruptly snap her mouth shut. She knew better than to joke around when Haname was being serious. "And those bastards back at the desk told me I couldn't visit you, and that you were in ' _critical condition_ ' so I don't even know what happened to you! Hell, I shouldn't even fucking be in this room!"

"They told you that you couldn't-? Th-then get out! You'll get in trouble!" Sakura quickly spluttered.

She quickly fumbled to push Haname out, but groaned in pain and clutched her abdomen as she tried to lean up. Haname eyed her with a sharp glance, before Sakura's previous words registered.

"Do you think I give a flying fuck if they don't want me in here!? I'll fight all of them! Now, what the hell happened!? Why did you just hurt all of a sudden!? Let me see!" Haname ordered, reaching her hands forward to look under Sakura's shirt. Sakura quickly swatted her hands away and Haname sighed in defeat. "This was supposed to be a simple visit and I even brought a fucking gift. Then I got told that you were in the hospital after some secret mission or whatever the fuck it was, so I came to check on you and- and they told me I couldn't see you. I thought you were _dying,_ Saku-chan. That man had looked so scared when he told me, so I just thought-" Haname cut herself off, sinking lower in the chair with another heave.

"Well, what happened was-"

"Haruno-san! I specifically told you that you were not allowed to visit her!" A raging but scarily polite Ko appeared in the doorway, hands-on-hips. "She is still recovering after a life-threatening incident! You are breaking hospital rules by being in here!"

Haname snapped her head towards the source of the voice, and jabbed a single, slender finger into Ko's large chest. The other woman's affronted look accounted for the majority of her emotions in that particular moment.

"Who the hell do you think you are, telling me that I can't visit family!?" Haname hissed, her hazel eyes dancing with rage. "I'm being forced to leave her in a foreign place by herself at _seven-years-old_ , and the first week I return I find out that she almost died! Do you know how embarrassed I am!? Do you know how fucking _stupid_ that makes me feel!?" Ko narrowed her eyes in challenge.

"I would greatly appreciate it if you did not scream obscenities at me, Miss. There are other patients in this ward that are dealing with far greater injuries than Haruno-san here." Ko inclined her head towards the pinkette laid down on the bed. "We are doing our best to make sure that there is no lasting damage, but she's also dealing with trauma from a previous situation, and she must have rest-"

"Trauma?" Haname choked out, raising an eyebrow and widening her eyes. Ko gave a curt nod of confirmation before continuing.

"So it would be in everyone's best interest that you do not trouble her with even more emotional distress than what she is already dealing with-"

"That didn't answer my question! How did she get the trauma? If you're going to ignore my quite obvious confusion-"

"Well you didn't ask how she got it, so how was I supposed to know? She-"

"You're supposed to be intuitive as a medic, so-"

"Miss, I am trying to explain things to you and you are cutting me off! Let me finish-"

"Let _you_ finish? How many times have you-"

"How many times have _I_ -?"

"Ye-"

"You are-"

"STOP ARGUING!" Sakura screamed, causing the two adult women to shut their mouths at the sudden outburst. "My _god,_ do you want my head to hurt more than it already does!?"

By the time Sakura had decided to intervene, both of their sentences had rapidly become terrifiyingly clipped, devolving into meaningless short sentences, leading to an inevitable heated argument. She had feared the thought of them suddenly exchanging blows in the middle of the room, because, judging by the tones of their voices, they did not sound very pleased with one another's presence.

Haname guiltily hung her head, as Ko's gaze shamefully slid elsewhere in the room with an awkward clearing of the throat. Haname sighed, rubbing her head as if this whole ordeal was as much of a nuisance as coming here and finding out that Sakura is hospitalised was.

"Yeah, yeah. You're right. Sorry, Saku-chan. I got angry." Haname admitted, heats reddening a bit in embarrassed admission. Sakura nodded, suddenly remembering everything that she needed to tell Haname.

"Um, Ko-sama, I understand that it's against policy and everything, but," Started Sakura, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. "I need to ask Haname a few things about what's been going on with me recently..."

Ko exchanged a subtle glance with Haname before returning her gaze to the seven-year-old on the hospital bed before her. Haname looked a little concerned and confused, staring at Sakura with many unasked questions revolving around in her mind.

"Are you sure you want to speak with Haname about it?" Ko asked, and before Sakura could answer, she continued with, "My nurses would be more qualified to answer any medical questions, so I could send them in, if that's what you wish." Sakura politely shook her head in the negative.

"No thank you. It's family stuff...I think. They wouldn't be able to answer." Sakura replied easily, earning a suspicious and even more concerned look from her family member. "So, please, just a few minutes. I would like some privacy with her."

Ko looked between Haname and Sakura for a few moments, before exhaling in vanquish.

"Five minutes. I will not go against my patient's wishes, if it makes you comfortable. But after that, she's out." Ko agreed, nodding slightly before slipping out of the room and closing the door behind her. Sakura was satisfied with her answer.

"Put...seals around the room, please." Sakura requested shamefully. Haname did so, although not without suspicion. Sakura's self-reproaching tone did not sound very good. She sounded like she was bordering contrition...but for what?

As soon as Haname slapped a silencing seal on the smooth wood of the mahogany door, Sakura immediately bolted upwards, unaffected by the pain, and fixed Haname with a fearful, confused look.

"Haname. I am so confused. Loads of things have been happening to me in the past week, and I can't explain them! I've been having dreams about stuff - but you might call them visions, I'm not sure - about things that might happen but they might not because sometimes I can stop them and then my friend-"

"Woah, woah, calm down there. I didn't catch a word of that." Haname quickly interjected, her hands waving about in front of her and her brows knit together in worry. "Start again. Chronological order."

Sakura took a deep breath, trying to figure out exactly how she wanted to tell Haname.

"I...You know that I met a boy, before - Naruto." Sakura started, earning a nod from Haname. "Well, after I met him, I bumped into another boy called Itachi. And then Sasuke. That same night and every night after that...I've been having...weird dreams." Haname looked pensive, before questioning.

"What kind of dreams?" Was her question.

"Well, my first dream...it was..." Sakura froze, remembering exactly what had happened. She trusted Haname more than anyone in the world. She could tell her anything. "A boy named Itachi Uchiha. He...He killed everyone. Every single Uchiha apart from his younger brother, Sasuke. Sasuke finds his brother had killed everyone, and he breaks down. That's when my dream ended."

Haname nodded slightly, still not convinced that these were visions, because she knew damn well that the Uchiha were still up and living.

"Um...okay. What made you think that this is going to eventually happen?" Haname asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sakura let out a shaky breath, and proceeded to explain,

"Well, you see, Itachi calls Sasuke 'otouto' in my dream." Sakura explains. Haname's cocked eyebrow lowered towards its partner, as her brow knit together in confusion as she regarded the panicked child in front of her with puzzlement.

"So?"

"I didn't know that they were brothers before that." Sakura replied.

Haname nodded, a little slower, before opening her mouth to counter. Haname had to make sure that what Sakura was saying was true before she could make a solid, evident conclusion. None of the supposed 'evidence' that Sakura had previously provided fully corroborated her bold claims, after all.

"Could be a coincidence." Haname suggested with a shrug, in an attempt to provoke Sakura into hurling further evidence to support her statement.

Sakura fumed, a little hurt.

"You're acting like you don't believe me. Why would I lie, onee-chan? You know me better than that. Fine, well, here's something else," Sakura started, earning an intrigued look from Haname, "I also saw their mother and father's heads on the floor. They looked _exactly_ like they do in real life, Haname-nee. I _couldn't_ have known that. There was no way!"

Haname's eyes hardened slightly, looking concerned and protective. She laid a hand on Sakura's shoulder, startling the younger girl.

"Okay. Carry on. What were your other dreams?" Haname pressed, earning a slight smile from Sakura as she admitted to kind-of believing her.

"Well, my next dream...it was, umm," Sakura looked pensive in thought for a moment, reminiscing the details, before continuing. "Oh yeah! So, I finally met the boy you were talking about back at home. Shunshin no Shisui. I did a shunshin and he saw. It was a bad shunshin, but he didn't seem to care."

Haname nodded, looking slightly proud but also looking slightly averse at Sakura's open display of jutsu that a seven-year-old was definitely _not_ supposed to know. They could blame Haname for that one.

"So, I met him. And then I had a dream... _about_ him." Sakura explained, fingering her own hair in a self-comforting gesture. "A man called Danzo, a village elder, killed him. He took out one of his eyes to get his ' _Visual Prowess_ ' I think he called it. And then-" Sakura suddenly widened her eyes, slapping a hand to her agape mouth.

"What's wrong?" Haname eyes, severely worried. Sakura tried to slip out of bed, but was held in place by Haname. "Stop! You'll hurt yourself!"

"Shisui and Hatake-san! I need to make sure they're okay! Danzo- he-!" Sakura cursed, suddenly remembering last night's incidents.

"Sakura!" Haname interrupting the little girl's ranting, causing Sakura to look her way. "We will find them later. I promise you. Finish what you were saying." Sakura hesitantly nodded.

"And then Shisui escaped and gave his last eye to Itachi, telling him that Danzo might come for it. He told Itachi to save the village, and then he jumped off of a cliff." Sakura explained with a grimace. "I didn't understand what that meant until my next dream - after I met Itachi for a third time in real life. It turns out that the Uchiha were apparently planning a coup against the Hokage in order to overthrow them, and Itachi was ordered to assassinate everyone by Danzo himself. Itachi kept alive Sasuke in exchange for his own life in Konoha."

Haname gritted her teeth, eyes widening and fists clenching.

"Sakura! Those are extremely serious accusations. You could cause a civil war for claiming something like that without evidence!" Haname hissed, more concerned for Sakura than the village. "Even worse, you could get executed!" Although she doubted that the oh-so-'benevolent' village would condemn a child to death.

"But I _do_ have evidence!" Sakura protested, fisting her pink hair with fury. "L-Last night! Danzo attacked Shisui and tried to take his eyes! It was exactly like I dreamt it to be! I-I managed to stop Danzo along with Hatake-san, but Danzo escaped after managing to stab me with a kunai, hence the wound," Sakura gestured towards her stomach as Haname's rage increased. "And then I passed out from blood loss and woke up in the hospital. I don't know where those two are, but I need to make sure they're okay!"

Haname rubbed her temples, trying to make logical sense of what Sakura was telling her and also trying to ease her own second-hand stress. Sakura was just a nervous mess on the bed at this point.

"Okay, so, let me get this straight. One of your dreams came true, and some dotard councilman went bat-shit crazy and tried to kill the Uchiha?" Sakura nodded, and Haname cursed under her breath. "We can't go to the Hokage without physical evidence. I doubt the other two you were with have gone to the Hokage, either."

Haname suddenly froze, looking cogitative. Then she spoke.

"I wonder if it's because of your Ke-" She cut herself off, eyes wide. She cleared her throat, shaking her head. "Nevermind. Stupid assumption."

Sakura didn't question her, despite her rising scepticism. Haname stood up, turning to fix Sakura with a warning glare.

"Stay here. I'm going to find that Shisui guy and I'm going to beat some answers out of him."

Sakura's eyes widened, and she outstretched her arms to try and grab Haname's cloak. She let out a conciliatory yell,

"No, onee-chan, don't! He didn't do anything wrong-!" Sakura managed to grip the cloak, but quickly let out a hiss of pain and let go when the chakra flowing in it burned her.

Haname quickly ducked out of the room, leaving a very distressed little girl in her wake.

Sakura growled, rapidly searching for any way that she may be able to escape. Her jade eyes snapped to a locked window, the analytical side of her brain thinking up logical solutions to the issue that she found herself in. She walked over to it, turning the handle and attempting to push it open. She huffed an exasperated breath of air.

 _Great_ , she hissed. It wouldn't budge. She'd have to look for a key.

Sakura walked her way over to a desk next to the bed, wincing twice in her strenuous activity. She looked over to the door that Haname had exited through. She couldn't leave through there, could she? The nurses would all see her and return her to her room.

Unless...

She pushed her hands forward, performing the necessary hand signs before henging into an almost-entirely different person. She then assessed herself in a nearby mirror, and, although the appearance did somewhat look like her if you analysed it close enough, it would do for now. She doubted that the staff members would notice the tiny details, as long as she escaped quickly enough.

She halted in front of the door, quickly patting herself down in an anxious attempt at calming her rising nerves. She didn't know what punishments she may face if she was caught.

Exhaling a small, shaky breath of air, she opened the door, to be greeted by the bustling hallway of the hospital. It was full of nurses and doctors running up and down, shouting orders to each other, and they looked extremely busy. Wincing at the pain in her abdomen as she took a single step, her hand instinctively flew to the gaping wound in her stomach. She proceeded to walk the rest of the way down the corridor, impressively evading the flurrying, panicking staff members that sprinted down the hallway as she did so.

Slipping out of the massive double doors that served as an impediment to progress, something that stood between her and liberty, she was finally free. Breathing a sigh of relief and releasing the henge, she walked down the street towards the Uchiha compound. It was still quite early in the morning, so she didn't expect Naruto to be up yet.

That was, until she rounded a corner in an alleyway and promptly smashed into a very panicked Naruto. He quickly stood up, dusting himself off without looking at her. She did so, at a slower pace, watching him in silent question.

He was about to speed off again, teeth gritted and eyes shining with tears, when he froze. She watched as his guileless blue orbs slowly found her viridian ones, and she saw his throat constrict as his breath hitched. Sakura smiled bashfully, and before she knew it, she had a handful of sobbing Uzumaki.

His arms were wrapped tightly, like a vice, around her smaller form, as his shoulders quietly shook with each silent sob. Quickly overcoming her evident surprise, she returned the hug, although a little softer, with a confused look drawn onto her heart-shaped face.

"Um, Naruto..." She started, voice high with a clueless tone. "I'm all for free hugs and what not, but I have a strange feeling that you're not crying for just any reason...so, mind telling me what's up?" She heard him sniff. She couldn't tell if that was his pitiful attempt at a laugh, or simply another sob.

"You went missing last night..." He explained, and hugged her tighter. "So did Shisui. We thought something happened, and then Shisui came home in the morning, all moody and...yeah, something definitely happened. I know it. Shisui doesn't seem like the type to get all hissy like that..." He concluded, as if that backed up his previous suspicion. "But he told us you were at the hospital, that an accident happened whilst you were training. I was going to the hospital right now, but..." His eyes trailed off to the side, meaning he didn't need to explain the rest.

Sakura was merely confused at one thing.

"I...had an accident whilst I was training? That's what he told you?" Her eyebrows were high on her forehead, but Naruto stayed oblivious to her inquiries.

"Yeah. So, what happened? What did you do during training that hurt you so bad?" Naruto sounded genuinely concerned for her safety, but she was dealing with much greater issues.

Sakura looked off to the side, concentrating, eyes narrowed on nothing.

 _Shisui told them that I hurt myself during training_ , she informed Suijin. She then felt the familiar hum of him settling in.

 _ **He must not want them to know, for some reason,**_ he theorised. Before she could continue, he cut her off. _**Listen, Sakura-chan, if the reason was that bad that he couldn't even tell his own family, it's probably best you just go along with his story. The Kyuubi kid mentioned he seemed rather off in the morning, so I suppose he's also dealing with something.**_ Sakura had an epiphany. Actually, Suijin made alot of sense.

She also opted to ignore his interesting description of Naruto.

 _Right_ , Sakura quickly tapped back into reality, turning to face Naruto.

"Yeah, it happened whilst I was training." She artfully lied. He nodded, buying into it her falsification easily. She felt bad deceiving Naruto, who was basically like a brother to her despite not knowing him that long (it juat felt right, she didn't know why), like this. However, she guessed that this was going to keep them safer in the long run. Shisui just seemed like that kind of selfless person. "I was running, tripped over a kunai and bam," she motioned to her stomach, "kunai right in my gut." Naruto winced. She thought it was kinda sweet how worried he was.

"Shouldn't you still be in the hospital, then?" He asked her, eyes trained on her bandages. Sakura shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah, about that..." She laughed nervously, hand rubbing the back of her head and her eyes sliding off to the side, strained. Naruto narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. "I might have...escaped. Maybe."

Naruto suddenly sighed - an exhausted breath of air, she noted. Looking at the purple under-bags of his eyes, she realised that he must be tired, and that he didn't get a lot of rest.

"You escaped? Hospitals make you better, though. You should have stayed in there! Even if I never go to 'em either." He admitted, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, although a yawn slipped past his lips after his sentence had ended. He flushed slightly in embarrassment, looking away shamefully under the scrutiny of Sakura's innocent gaze.

"Were you looking for me all morning?" She asked, concerned. He nodded slightly. It was her turn to sigh. "Naruto, I'm okay now. Promise. So you can go and get some sleep now."

He shook his head negative, attempting to push her in the direction of the hospital. She simply pinned her feet to the floor with chakra.

"No, Sakura-chan, you need to go back to the hospital! I'm not going home until you walk into those doors, okay?" Naruto ordered, throwing his hands on his hips and glaring at her as if he had the authority to do so. His bottom lip soon quivered, however, betraying his disapproval at glaring at Sakura so heatedly. Sakura snickered slightly at his ridiculously mothering tone.

"Okay, then. How about this? I'll promise to go back to the hospital, if you promise to go and get some sleep." Sakura offered gently, cocking an eyebrow in an attempt to entice an answer out of him. The blond looked hesitant for a moment, before nodding with content, satisfied smile plastered on his face.

"Deal!" He grinned, throwing out a thumbs up. He suddenly looked nonplussed. "Uh...Do I go home now, or...?"

"Yes, Naruto. You can go home now. But one more question," she quickly added before Naruto had the chance to sprint of, halting him as he looked towards her in expectance, "you don't happen to know where Shisui's gone, do you?"

He looks reflective for a moment, before,

"Uh...I think he mentioned that he was going to talk to Jiji about something." He told her, grin in it's rightful place.

 _Jiji?_ She questions, confused.

 _ **The Hokage, remember?**_ Suijin helpfully supplied. She nodded in recollection, before grinning back at Naruto and quickly running up to him to give him a departing hug.

"Okay, thanks, Naruto! See you soon!" Sakura said, waving him off as he flurried away with a bounce in his step.

 _To the Hokage Tower we go,_ Sakura sighed, turning to the Tower's direction with a solemn expression.

When Sakura reached the Tower, she stopped outside of the large double doors. Her hand ascended, before coming down to knock loudly on the door.

She heard the affirmative hum of the Hokage, and opened the doors to walk in. She was surprised to find it empty. Her eyes met the Hokage's. He smiled warmly at her, she smiled back.

"Hokage-sama," She greeted, bowing low. "I came to ask if Shisui was here."

His expression dimmed, but the smile remained intact even when the shine in his eyes disappeared.

"Shisui-kun is busy right now. I apologise." The Hokage replied. Sakura frowned.

"Okay, but can you tell me where to find him?" She asked, slightly ruffled by his ability to dodge her questions so effortlessly.

He looked thoughtful for a minute, before interlacing his fingers underneath his chin and letting his smile disappear.

"Shisui is in the Torture and Interrogation unit going through a very important interrogation right now." He explained, and Sakura could immediately guess what the interrogation was about. "He is stationed with Ibiki Morino, so you will have to wait until after the interrogation has finalised in order to talk to him."

Sakura figured that the Hokage wasn't going to allow her access, so she'd have to do it herself.

"Okay. Thank you, Hokage-sama." She said with a bow, walking outside of the Hokage's office and closing the door.

 _Figures that Shisui wouldn't get me involved,_ Sakura sighed. _I_ _t's kind and all of him, but this is just ridiculous. We almost died._

 _ **Let him be,**_ Suijin simply responded.

Sakura walked outside of the Hokage's Tower and was about to make her way to the T&I building when she realised - she didn't actually _know_ where it was.

Looking ahead of her, Sakura noticed two people - a male and a female - walking together. They seemed around Sakura's age.

Both had distinctively coloured eyes; a pearly white shade, and midnight-hued hair. The boy held a very bitter scowl, which seemed to fall deeper whenever the female came closer to him. He held his head pridefully high, his arms crossed firmly over his chest. The female was a complete contrast to her arrogant companion - hands fiddling shyly in front of her, her eyes cast downwards in a submissive manner. She looked very uncomfortable. Sakura decided to approach anyway.

"Excuse me." She called, gathering the attention of both people. The boy narrowed his eyes at her, whereas the girl averted hers. "Do you know where-"

Sakura startled, affronted, when the boy abruptly grabbed the girl's forearm and dragged her off in the opposite direction, without even a word.

"Jeez, o- _kay,_ mardy.." She muttered, directing a dirty look at the impudent boy's retreating back.

 _Weird,_ Sakura mumbled internally.

She turned to the nearest person - a boy with a furry coat on and red triangles running down each side of his cheeks. He looked her age, too.

"Excuse me, do you know where the Torture and Interrogation unit is?" She asked. He turned to her before frowning.

"Nah." He said, shrugging. Sakura was about to walk off in a fuss when he took one hand out of his coat pocket and pointed to a similar-looking older girl behind him with the same cheek markings. "But my sister might." Sakura grinned at him.

"Oi! _Hana!"_ He yelled, and she walked up, an irritated look on her face.

 _"What,_ you insolent little idiot!?" She yapped in reply, almost a feral growl, and only then did Sakura notice their almost kanine-like sharp teeth.

"She wants to know where the T 'n I building is." He motioned to Sakura, and the older girl turned towards Sakura, before grinning widely.

"Well why didn't ya' just say so, pup?" She teased, ruffling his hair as he growled at her, a complete 180 from her previous angry behavioural outburst. The older girl pointed down the street, crouching down next to Sakura to meet her height. "Down there, take a right, another right, and then a left. It's a huge building with the words on the front. Ya' can't miss it."

Sakura looked down the street, and then returned her gaze to the girl before smiling warmly.

"Thank you, Miss!" Sakura thanked, saluting, before sprinting down the street.

"No prob, pup!" Sakura heard her call as she ran down the road.

 _I hope Shisui and Hatake-san are okay_ , Sakura thought.

 _ **Pfft, they'll be**_ **fine, _Sakura-chan_**. **_Did you see them fighting? They looked like they knew what they were doing,_** Suijin reassured her.

 _Uh, yeah. Sure,_ Sakura replied uncertainly, eyes searching the buildings, looking for bold letters reading ' _Torture and Interrogation_ '.

Her eyes landed on the building, and she unconsciously blew a breath she didn't realise that she was holding. Sakura burst through the doors, immediately garnering all eyes on her. She was surprised to find Genma in there.

"Genma-san?" She spoke, eyebrow raised. He blinked twice before grinning, the senbon in his mouth shifting ever so slightly.

"Hey, kid. You need something?" He asked, everyone around them losing interest and returning to their assigned tasks.

Sakura looked around, her brow furrowed in uncertainty.

"I need to find Shisui." She finally told him, meeting his eyes, serious.

His grin faltered, and he seemed to fall into a dutiful expression. He nodded his head in the direction of a huge steel door that was painted with multiple complex-looking seals.

"He's having an interrogation right now. It's best you leave him be for now." Genma told her professionally. Sakura gritted her teeth.

"Genma-san, _I_ should be part of that interrogation. I'm not sure if you know what happened, but I was there." She told him in a juvenile whine, eyes piercing despite her childish action.

He blinked widely in surprise before turning to the door, seemingly vacillating something. He seemed to sigh, closing his eyes and coming to the end of his mental debate.

"I'll...talk to Ibiki." He told her, reopening his eyes and meeting her glistening emerald ones. And in that moment, his whole happy-go-lucky facade temporarily wavered, and Sakura could see the tired look in his eyes, and could auditorially hear the way his speech was mired in exhaustion.

Her train of thoughts were cut off when Genma disappeared behind the door. She sat, busying herself as Genma dealt with 'Ibiki' and soaking in her surroundings and analysing the absolute mess she had gotten herself into. He returned a few moments later, looking utterly disturbed.

"You can...You can go in."

Sakura calmly obliged, pivoting and childishly waddling her way over to the door. She grunted in pain as she had to stretch taller in order to reach the door handle, jostling her wound. She walked into the room, surprised to find Shisui arguing with someone. Surprisingly, Kakashi was absent from the interrogation.

"There was no one else, okay? I don't know what the hell Genma's talking about! Go and tell whoever is claiming to have been there that this is none of their busine-"

Shisui stopped. He slowly turned and met her eye. With innocent blinks and eventually a small sigh, he caved.

"God, Sakura-chan. I hope you know what you're getting into."

* * *

 _Serious-time: activated._

 _._

Bleh. Okay, so apparently I did an oopsie. Or maybe the website did, I'm not sure. I had a PM informing me that they'd already read chapter 18 (thank you again for informing me, by the way) even though I released it (again?) two days ago. I'm not sure if the website removed the chapter, or if I did, but when I went to add another chapter after my temporary hiatus, it told me 17 chapters were released, and so I added chapter 18.

I do remember thinking to myself that the chapter looked awfully similar as I released it, but I don't remember removing it.

If anyone else has had this issue, please inform me! I need to figure out what happened.

And, if you did see the last chapter and told yourself that you'd already read it and skipped, I advise going back and scrolling to the end to see my author's notes. I explain a LOT of things, including my hiatus, that I recommend reading if you haven't done so already.


	20. Chapter 20

Sakura blinked back, confused.

"I...Well, I just wanted to help," she muttered, only then noticing the many ANBU stationed in the corners. They had hidden well.

The man with scars was glaring at her like he wanted to crush her with her eyes, leaving Sakura to grow increasingly uncomfortable. It was as if he was searching her for any slip-ups.

"I should've told you to stay out of this, Sakura-chan, but..." Shisui's eyes trailed off to the side, unreadable. "Guess it's too late for that now. You might as well help me convince these guys - they're so... _stiff."_ He made a disgusted face.

The man with scars rudely adorning his features abrubtly stood, shaking Shisui into sudden vigilance. The Uchiha seemed sluggish in his actions and words, and Sakura supposed he hadn't gotten much sleep after the incident with Danzo. This belated act of responsiveness supported that theory.

"Your name." The man spoke, voice deep and demanding. Sakura met his cold eyes, squirming slightly under his scrutiny.

"Sakura Haruno, sir." She replied easily.

"You do realise what this interrogation is about, do you not?" The scar-faced man raised an eyebrow at her, and Sakura nodded.

"Yeah, I do." Sakura simply responded, nodding. She saw, out of her peripheral vision, Shisui drooping against his chair.

She supposed that he needed this backup. It's not like he would be much use on his own, he probably couldn't even remember what had happened with the state he was currently in.

The man narrowed his eyes at her, effortless calculation swimming in their depths, before he opened his mouth to speak again.

"I'm glad. My name is Ibiki Morino and I am your interrogator." Ibiki told her, and Sakura slightly smiled. She dropped it, bitterly, when his mouth didn't even shift an inch in return. "If you fabricate your statements in any way, shape or form, you will be found out and dealt with in your act of treachery and treason. Am I clear?" Sakura curtly nodded.

"Good. Now, first question..."

This went on for some time; Ibiki asking, Sakura answering, Shisui eventually adding extra information where Sakura's was lacking. When they had finished all questioning, Ibiki held his paper in one hand, it crumpled roughly beneath his fingers. He shook his head, eyes hard.

"This isn't enough. I'm sorry, but there is no evidence to be able to convict Danzo of anything." Ibiki explained, causing Shisui to slouch in his chair, smacking his head on the chair. Sakura repeated this action, although with less exaggeration.

He looked towards Sakura.

"Haruno, you mentioned that you were able to thwart Danzo's first attempt to steal Uchiha's eyes, am I correct?" Sakura reminisced for a split second, before nodding in confirmation. "How were you aware that Danzo was going to do this? Obviously you were able to forestall him when it came down to it, but why did you seek Shisui out in the first place?"

Sakura froze. She didn't like lying, but she certainly couldn't tell him about Suijin. She'd already mentally gone over many reasons on why she could not tell anyone.

 ** _Repeat after me_** , Suijin cut in, sensing her anxeity, _**I**_ **_was following Shisui in an attempt to catch up with him. I was going to ask him to train with me tomorrow, but then I saw his exchange with Danzo. Shisui had his eyes down, but I could see the cogs in Danzo's head turning before he even did it. As soon as Danzo flickered in front of him and punched Shisui in the gut, I guess my survival instinct just sort of cut in. I could see him pulling his arm back. At first, I thought he was going to punch him again, so I stopped it, but when I caught his hand, he was aiming higher than I'd initially expected. He kept going on about Shisui's eyes so I just...I made a guess out loud. However, Danzo then verbally confirmed my suspicions._**

Sakura blinked, stumped.

 _I...what the hell did you say again?_

She heard Suijin sigh in obvious exasperation, and instead tried to repeat his monologue.

"I was going to ask Shisui if he could train with me tomorrow, but when I caught up to him, I could see Danzo talking to him. Then Danzo flickered in front and punched him, so I...I just tried to help Shisui." Sakura shrugged, eyes honest. A half-truth would do for now.

Ibiki stared her down, and Sakura thought that if it was possible for glares to kill, she would've been reduced to a tiny smudge on the chair by now. Shisui looked too exhausted to say anything about how Ibiki might be a little too intimidating for her.

"And what about you knowing that Danzo was presumably out to get Uchiha's eyes?" Ibiki interrogating, leaning closer to her with an unreadable countenance splayed on his marred face.

Sakura had noticed that, in the amount of time she had been questioned in here, she had been getting gradually and gradually closer to the corner, and Ibiki closer to her. Sakura knew how this worked, and she knew what he was trying to do. It was part of the reason why these room was made so small - it was made to make you feel trapped.

If the big, double-locked, sealed, steel door wasn't enough, you had ANBU in almost every corner, no wheels on your chair, and no AC. Sakura was sweating, although not from anxeity, but merely the heat. She had wondered if her uncomfortable countenance was what had made Ibiki so suspicious of her in the first place - well, that and the fact that Danzo was an extremely influential person with a reputation on the line if it turned out that Sakura and Shisui were telling the truth.

Why was she being backed into a corner? Did Ibiki not believe her?

And why the hell did he get the wheels on _his_ chair? She wanted wheels, damnit!

"If I'm being honest, I...I didn't know, really," Sakura falsely admitted with a shrug. In Sakura's opinion, she totally nailed the whole 'innocent tone' thing. "I made a guess. It's because Danzo just wouldn't shut up about Shisui's, uh...his eye thing. Sorry, I forgot what it's called. Anyway, he wouldn't stop talking about it, and when I'd blocked his punch before, his hand had been very near Shisui's eyes, so I just...made a guess out loud. It turned out I was right when Danzo asked how I'd found that out, so I didn't think it had mattered."

Ibiki let out a deep, slow, breath, interlacing his fingers and leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed and a calm exterior. He opened his eyes once more, cutting off any sign of emotion. He would take any measures necessary in order to find out if they were telling the truth or not. Sakura could tell that he took his job extremely seriously.

"If I'm being honest, I think it's obvious that something's been off about Danzo for a long time. Everyone knew it, they simply didn't speak out on the matter. This, however..." Ibiki held the paper tighter, holding it up and eyeing it. "This changes things. On a grand scale." Sakura beamed.

"Great! So you believe us-?"

"I wasn't finished," he gruffly interrupted, slamming the paper down. "Yes, it changes things. Or maybe _'would'_ will fit the word I'm looking for? Yes. It _would_ change things...If we had any way to know that you are truly being honest in your accusations. However, we do not. If Danzo did what you said he did, he could be thrown from power and executed. Attempting to purge a Kekkei Genkai from a well-known clan is simply treason, and no authorative figure will stand for it - well, besides from Danzo himself, but we are getting off topic."

"Then send a Yamanaka in to do an examination!" Shisui blurted out, slamming his hands down and standing up so fast that he knocked the chair back quite a bit.

Sakura stayed silent as Ibiki glared at his commanding tone, her emerald eyes ping-ponging between them in confusion.

 _ **Yamanaka? Isn't Ino-chan one of those?**_ Sakura thought.

 _You're under the assumption that I know how to answer that question_ , Suijin replied with a sigh.

Sakura bit her cheek to avoid accidentally biting out a snarky comment aloud in reply.

Ibiki looked to one of the ANBU guards and nodded. The ANBU flurried out of the room, going off to do whatever task Ibiki had telepathically asked him to do. Ibiki turned back towards Shisui, eyes tinted with the slightest of hope.

"Will she be taking the examination aswell?" Ibiki questioned, motioning towards the idle pinkette. Sakura snapped to attention immediately. Her eyes flickered over to Shisui to see his answer.

"A junior one, then," Shisui bitterly muttered, looking at her like he knew that she would want to help in any way she could. And he knew that she was stubborn. "Nothing bad - and she is not taking an adult examination, no matter how much she tells you that she can handle it. She can not handle it, an adult examination would traumatise her, so keep it low-tier. It's not as if she has the knowledge to be able to manipulate her memories, anyway."

Ibiki opened his mouth, but unceremoniousy clamped it shut when the heavy steal door abruptly opened once more, and in stepped a mature looking blond man with pupil-less blue eyes and his hair gathered into a long ponytail. Sakura's eyes fell on the Jounin, and they lit up with realisation immediately. She couldn't help but splutter,

"You look like Ino-chan!"

Her face instantly heated up as everyone turned to her. The blond man cocked an eyebrow at her, smirking slightly.

"I would hope so," he replied, eyes alight with mirth, "she is my daughter."

Sakura's mouth formed an o-shape as she nodded, realisation on how much they actually did look like each other. Bone structure and everything!

She quickly decided to keep her mouth shut after promptly embarrassing herself, letting the authorities in this situation take the lead. She was quite surprised at their trust in her. It would be easy for one to manipulate someone as young as her, and she was even aware of that, so for them to not burst with disbelieving laughter every time she spoke was incredible. Maybe it was there carefully-implemented stoicism that made them unable to form dubious looks or the likes whenever she spoke of Danzo's plans, but, nonetheless, she was thankful that they were able to give her a chance to prove herself.

That introduced the question; how was she supposed to do that? Maybe they had methods that she didn't know of, but it would not be easy proving that someone of such high esteem had attempted to kill you and steal your friend's eyes.

She watched as Ino's father - she was totally telling Ino how cool her dad was when she next saw her - turned towards Ibiki, raising a blond eyebrow at him. Ibiki leaned back in his chair, pulling open his draw and throwing him some keys. The blond caught them effortlessly, still looking confused.

"You want me to interrogate a child?" The man muttered, earning an eye roll from Morino.

"I want you to interrogate the only apparent alabi of Shisui, _Inoichi,"_ Ibiki hissed in reply. "You know that memories aren't evidence - unless they are a child that is unable to alter them. If you can successfully find the memory of when Danzo supposedly attacked them - because that's what they are claiming - then we can wrap this case up and call it a day. If not, then they are lying and we can deal with them. Let's not argue over this."

Inoichi's mouth formed a firm line, before he flipped through the keys. He grimaced to himself as his eyes wandered towards Sakura - how was he supposed to go through the mind of a child? - before he looked back towards Ibiki.

"How far do you want me to go into her mind?" Inoichi asked, icy blue eyes flitting between the pink-haired seven-year-old and Ibiki.

Morino made a small, dismissive hand wave in response. Shisui watched on with tired, weary eyes. He leaned his head against the side of the chair, unable to suppress a yawn.

"As far as you need to. Just find the memory." Ibiki replied.

Inoichi turned to Sakura, a small frown adorning his aged features, before inclining his head to a side-door.

"Follow me." He ordered, all previous traces of relaxation gone from his face, replaced by a more sincere expression.

Sakura sent a glance towards Shisui, who merely sent her an exhausted smile and gestured towards Inoichi - who was walking through the side-door - as though he were telling her that she would be fine. Maybe.

Sakura sent a hesitant smile back and slid off of the big chair, running after Inoichi like a lost child. She slipped through the door with him, and immediately noticed that no ANBU were in the room. Just her, him, and a metal chair with straps littering where ones arms, legs and neck would be.

Sakura swallowed nervously, looking over to Inoichi. Inoichi seemed to notice her anxiety and quite unelegantly snorted, waving a dismissive hand in front of him.

"I won't strap you, kid." He assured her, and Sakura reluctantly nodded in response.

She clambered onto the chair that seemed too big for her and looked around the room, waiting for Inoichi to finish fishing through files. Once he did, he firmly ordered her to look directly into his eyes and not to fight it. She obliged.

He then held his hands out in front of him in an almost-rectangle shape and muttered a jutsu, and Sakura slumped.

A second later, she awoke with a gasp.

She looked towards Inoichi, who was blinking rapidly at her, mouth agape. She watched him shake his head and he once again ordered her to stay still - with the additional advice of not to fight his technique.

Sakura muttered a simple, "I wasn't..." but otherwise did not say anything else.

He pushed his hands forward and tried again. Once more, Sakura felt herself black out, before she awoke once more. She looked towards Inoichi, as if to decipher is anything was wrong by searching his expression, and saw that his mouth was twisted in a tight frown, his jaw tight and eyes narrowed.

"How strange." Inoichi muttered apprehensively. "I've never had someone...break out of my technique before." He frowned harder, his pupiless eyes fly to hers. "Nevertheless, whatever you are doing, stop it. I am getting information to help your friend. Why would you want to keep it from me? Unless you are lying, of course."

Sakura blinked in surprise, before frowning.

"I...don't know what you're talking about." She admitted, shuffling awkwardly in her chair. When he raised an eyebrow, she elaborated. "I _wasn't_ breaking out of your technique."

"You were," he argued, "no matter how impossible that should be. Especially for someone who hasn't even entered the academy yet."

"I- No I wasn't!" She protested, her brows furrowing in irritation. "I seriously have no idea what you're accusing me of!"

He knitted his brows in frustration, before outstretching his arms and forming another symbol once more. "Don't fight it."

 ** _Sorry, that's me_** , Suijin suddenly chimed in.

Sakura blinked in surprise. _Um, what?_

 _ **I keep on kicking him out of your head**_ , he responded flippantly.

 _T-Then stop! It's making him suspicious!_ Sakura cried, growing anxious as Inoichi clenched his eyes shut, assuming that more concentration beforehand would lead to a better technique.

 _ **Yeah, no,**_ Suijin replied. _**Do**_ _ **you want us to die? If I let him into your head, it will kick me, Raijin and Yogenshin out, which will, in turn, shatter your brain. Deal with it, or deal with the prospect of you dying.**_

Sakura's lips fell into a snarl as she prepared to bite back a response, before Inoichi's abrupt shout of "Shintenshin no jutsu!" interrupted her thought process, and she slumped once more.

And then awoke. Again.

Inoichi unceremoniously stood, staring down at her in a mix of wonder, confusion and annoyance. Sakura peered back at him innocently, her expression falling into a wince as she mulled over the consequences of Inoichi not receiving the results he needed in order to amass the proper evidence required to arrest Danzo for his actions.

"Impossible." He mumbled, shaking his head. "Three times in a row? My technique is perfect. No way could you have done that."

Sakura shrunk in on herself, eyes flitting around the room and landing on anything but Inoichi as she tried to conjugate a response to Inoichi's mental queries. He ran a hand down his face and walked out of the door, and the heavy metal door slammed behind him as he left. So, Sakura sat alone in the room, her eyes trained on the door.

She heard distant mumbling coming from the other side, so she directed chakra to her ears in order to hear it better - something she'd learned she could do after years of eavesdropping on Haname and her parents' conversations.

"-three times, Ibiki. I have perfected my mind sweep jutsu over a course of many years, and you are telling me that she - a seven-year-old not-even-academy-student - broke out of it? _Three times?"_ She heard Inoichi growl.

"Try it again. She shouldn't be resisting, she'd told me that she would do anything to bring Danzo to justice, so there would be no reason for her to break out of it. Tell her that if she doesn't, Danzo won't be arres-"

"She knows that." Inoichi snapped. "Don't you think I've already told her? And the worst part is, she's denying the fact that she's breaking out of it. It's one thing that a seven-year-old girl who hasn't even started academy yet broke out of a perfected Yamanaka tehnique, but it's a whole nother thing when she claims that she's not doing it. You know what that means, right?"

Ibiki stayed silent, waiting for Inoichi to answer his own rhetorical question.

"That means she's doing it unconciously." Inoichi continued, and Sakura could hear the clear irritation in his voice. "I didn't detect any interception from outside sources, so it only leaves her as the culprit. But what am I to do to forestall her resistance when she doesn't even know how she's doing it herself? Either she has some secret magical being inside of her head-" Sakura knew he was joking, but she still paled, "-or she's lying about it. My guess is that something happened that night that she doesn't want us to know about."

 _No, you couldn't be more wrong, idiot!_ Sakura internally growled.

"And what do you suppose we do about that, then?" Ibiki snapped back, frustration clearly lacing his tone aswell.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not in the mood for torturing a child right now." Inoichi replied, and Sakura heard Ibiki scoff in outrage. "...But I also don't want to drop the case."

"Nor do I." Ibiki mumbled in agreement. "This is too good an opportunity to just let it go. Danzo has been doing things in hiding for a while now, and no one paid it any mind, even as slight news of his supposed wrong-doings passed under their noses. It was about time before someone stepped up and spoke about it, and now we have apparent victims of said wrong-doings."

"Then, again, what do you suppose we do?" Inoichi repeated. "I cannot use my jutsu on the Uchiha. His sharingan will intercept my 'attack', as it is essentially genjutsu, in an odd way."

For once in his life, Ibiki was stumped.

"I am not sure." He admitted. "Uchiha told me that it was just him there. And now, he claims that Haruno was also there. What if there were more?"

Sakura could almost hear the cogs turning in Inoichi's head.

"And...you want me to ask her this?" Inoichi enquired. Sakura assumed that Ibiki had nodded, judging by the silence and Inoichi's response. "And what if it turns out that no one else was there?"

"Then we'll have no choice but to drop the case." Ibiki replied, before he muttered an afterthought. "We'll have no choice but to apprehend the remaining people if it turns out that there were more. After all, since they hadn't reported such an incident, that could be seen as withholding information from Konoha. Haruno can be let off, since she is a child. And the Uchiha came straight to us, so he is out of the question. But any remaining people must be dealt with... _appropriately."_

Sakura felt herself pale. She was torn between telling them the truth - which would give them a chance at dealing with Danzo - and getting Kakashi in trouble, or refusing to rat him out and getting the case dropped. Either way, there were bad consequences. However, giving T&I the evidence they needed wouldn't be enough to arrest Danzo, only to bring him out of power. He could still hurt somebody that way.

So...should Sakura tell him about Kakashi, or not? She didn't know what, exactly, they would do to him, but it didn't sound good. She didn't even know the guy all that much, but she didn't want to be responsible for his downfall when he'd literally saved her life.

 ** _Such a big heart for such a small body, Sakura-chan_** , Suijin tutted. ** _I'd say to just let them drop the case. Hatake seems to be a good ally to have on your side if Danzo ever does strike again, which I doubt he will. Eyes will be on him for a while, now that the incident's been reported. He may have 'lost' the battle last night, but you must remember that he is one of Konoha's greatest deceivers, and is highly intelligent. He wouldn't risk such a thing for a few fancy eyeballs._**

The door swung open, and Inoichi came strolling in, sharp eyes locked on Sakura, who quickly stopped the flow of chakra to her ears. The pinkette felt herself shrink slightly underneath his intimidating gaze.

"Sakura Haruno," he started, "you agreed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, correct?" Sakura nodded in agreement. "Were there any other people involved in last night's incident, apart from you and Uchiha-san?"

Sakura's gaze dropped to the floor.

"There...was..." She trailed off, before looking back up at him, her gaze stern and reinvigorated. "There was not anyone else there. Only me and Shisui."

Inoichi narrowed his eyes at her, but Sakura refused to waver. If she was to keep Kakashi on her side, this was the least she could do for him. Only a small lie, but it did a lot.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Inoichi clapped his hands together. A strained smile appeared on his aged face, and Sakura did not miss the infinitesimal twitch in his eyebrow.

"Well, I am sorry to disappoint you, but we must drop this case, then, due to the lack of evidence." Inoichi explained, and even though Sakura had known the outcome of saying what she had said, she still couldn't forestall the wave of disappointment that washed over her as she slumped in her chair, resigned. "You are free to leave. However, you are not to speak a word to anyone else about this incident. We'll explain the closure of this case to Shisui with a little more detail, so you can be on your way now."

When Sakura had stalked out of the building, eyes down, she couldn't help but feel the eyes of Shisui burning holes into her back. However, when she'd glanced back at him, he only seemed to flash her a genuine smile and look away.

 _I hope this won't affect him too much._

* * *

Chapter done! Please review if you liked it :)

I apologise that my updates are taking long, but please understand that school is hard and I have multiple assessment and tests to revise for during this summer break (I know, pure evil my teachers are), and that I don't want bad grades ahaha T_T Please remember that this is a hobby, and although I'm NOT going to give up on this story (as I have so many ideas written, I swear to god if this story stops, it means I've died), it will be hard to squeeze out chapters. Hopefully I can get a few more done before my summer break ends. So far I've only been able to wring a few out by writing on school nights or the weekends, lol.

Also!

Please don't claim that I made Sakura 'OP' by breaking out of a Yamanaka technique - BECAUSE SHE LITERALLY DOES IT IN CANON! So, if Inner Sakura - something that was supposedly 'comic relief' - helped Sakura break out of a Yamanaka technique in canon, then so can Suijin, who is a much more powerful being.

I feel bad for dropping the case, but dont worry! Danzo shouldnt be an issue in the future...

Or will he?

:)


End file.
